Luisa Ferida was one of the greatest actresses of Italian cinema with one of the most talked about stories ever. The events involving her and her husband Osvaldo Valenti were presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival through the film “Sanguepazzo” starring Luca Zingaretti and Monica Bellucci in their roles.
Who was Luisa Ferida
Luisa Ferida, pseudonym of Luigia Manfrini Farné, was an Italian actress born in Castel San Pietro Terme on March 18, 1914 and died in Milan on April 30, 1945. She grows up in the province of Bologna where develops a passion for the theater joining various companies and then making his debut in the world of cinema.
His first film, “Golden Arrow”, it is dated 1935 and with this it manages to get quite popular. In the following years it is often seen in film projects alongside Amedeo Nazzari with whom he plays “The Castiglioni brothers”, “The count of Bréchard” and “La fossa degli angeli”. The great film that gets her attention from critics is “An adventure of Salvator Rosa” with which it is recognized for its energetic and gritty character.
Luisa Ferida and the relationship with Osvaldo Valenti
During her career she met numerous exponents of the entertainment world but she was particularly struck by it Osvaldo Valenti, with whom he undertakes a working relationship but also a personal and loving one. The relationship between the two is of great complicity and they make themselves known also and above all for theirs political positions.
Although the Ferida was known for its imitations of the duce, the two were protagonists of the so-called fascist cinematography. They were in fact protagonists together with other actors such as Vittorio de Sica of the Cinema of white phones. Later they move to Bologna to carry on Luisa’s pregnancy but she loses the baby due to a miscarriage.
Luisa Ferida and support for fascism
In 1944 the couple moved to Milan and adheres to the independent military body of the Italian Social Republic also coming into contact with the band of Pietro Koch. There are still doubts about her active participation in torturing the partisans, yet Natalia Ginzburg in “Family Lexicon” says that Ferida also dealt with interrogate the partisans giving the example of Lisetta Giua, wife of Vittorio Foa.
L’adhesion to fascism brings with it great repercussions with the Liberation of Milan, especially for well-known exponents like her and her husband. In fact, on April 30, she and Osvaldo Valenti are shot by the partisans following a trial in which she is accused of collaborating.
According to the testimonies of the partisan Giuseppe Marozin:
“La Ferida had done nothing, really nothing. But he was with Valenti. The revolution overwhelms everyone. “
He had also read the defensive memorial drawn up by Valenti in which the names of the witnesses able to clear them were proposed, but Pertini did not want to wait and so asked to kill them. After the shooting, all their possessions are taken away from the now deceased couple, which in the 1950s were requested by Ferida’s mother. In fact, Mrs. Pansini asks the Treasury to obtain one war pension and after careful analysis she was allowed to have it.