The Italian music world bids farewell to Ornella Vanoni, who passed away last night at the age of 91. This farewell weighs heavily on a figure who, more than an artist, was an integral part of the country's cultural history. Born in Milan on September 22, 1934, Vanoni endured decades of musical and social transformation, becoming one of the most refined and recognizable interpreters of Italian pop and singer-songwriter music.
Her voice, velvety and unmistakable, has left its mark on the collective memory; her elegant and ironic style has made her a point of reference for entire generations of audiences, artists, and intellectuals. Her career path has never been linear, never conventional, always marked by prestigious collaborations, artistic adventures, and a unique ability to reinvent herself without losing her authenticity.
Emblematic, in this sense, is the phrase she uttered last June when she received an honorary degree from the University of Milan: "If my parents could see me, they would go wild with joy . I was always a slob at school and ignorant. But my ignorance ended when I became Giorgio Strehler's partner: I watched rehearsals, learned, and then studied everything until five in the morning, even Trotsky in German. Obviously, he couldn't make me act, even though I was a little tired of being the underworld singer."
That anecdote, besides conveying the ironic and lucid spirit that always distinguished her , also reveals Vanoni's profound connection with the theater, with Milan's cultural scene, and with the postwar intellectual ferment. Her encounter with Strehler was not only a love story, but a school, a laboratory of life and art. And from that fertile soil, she was able to develop a complex, sophisticated musical personality, capable of transcending popular music without sacrificing the depth of the singer-songwriter genre.
Ornella Vanoni's career is a mosaic of eras and atmospheres: from her early days with the "mala" songs to her collaborations with authors such as Gino Paoli and Vinicius de Moraes and the guitarist Toquinho, up to the more recent projects that have brought her back to the scene as a timeless diva, much loved even by the new generations.
