Benedetta Barzini

Benedetta Barzini (born 22 September 1943 in Porto Santo Stefano) is an Italian photomodel, journalist, writer, educator, feminist. In the 1960s she made a career as a model in the United States, shooting for Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Ugo Mulas, Henry Clarke (photographer), Andy Warhol, became the first Italian on the cover of American Vogue and in 1965 Barzini's photograph graced the cover of the first issue of Italian Vogue, but by the end of the decade was disillusioned with the fashion world. Upon returning to Milan, she became a member of the Italian Communist Party and a radical feminist. Author of over 5 books, she lectured at three universities for twenty years.

Biography

Family and early years

Benedetta was born on 22 September 1943 in Porto Santo Stefano as the youngest daughter of Italian journalist and author Luigi Barzini Jr. and his first wife, Giannalisa Gianzana Feltrinelli, wealthy widow of Carlo Feltrinelli. Benedetta's sibling Ludina was only one year older. Giannalisa Feltrinelli had a son from her previous marriage, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Her parents' marriage quickly fell apart; according to Benedetta's recollections, her mother did not love her or her sister Ludina. After leaving the family, Luigi Barzini didn't even congratulate Benedetta on her birthday, and when travelling to New York her mother rented herself an apartment on the 60th floor of a skyscraper, and her children a separate flat on the third, where a nanny lived with them. The relationship with her mother was so difficult that Benedetta began to suffer from anorexia and other psychological problems at the age of 14. Caught for the third time in a clinic for anorexics in Geneva, she sought help from the young Italian consul Antonello Pietromarca, who gave her a passport and helped her go to the juvenile court, where Benedetta received documents so that her mother could no longer interfere with her affairs.

Photomodel career Barzini was discovered at age 20 on the streets of Rome by Consuelo Crespi in 1963; Diana Vreeland soon thereafter received photographs of Barzini and sent a telegram asking if she could come to Manhattan to shoot for American Vogue She did so, and within ten days, she was signed with Ford Models. He would dedicate various works to her, such as his Poems for Benedetta Barzini and The Last Benedetta Poems. She also started hanging out at Andy Warhol's Factory and was headed for the top rank of New York models. lecturing on subjects such as problematic images of women in fine art and the mass media.

Barzini has also worked extensively as a journalist and writer. She has published "Elegance: Reflections on self-presentation" (L'eleganza per me. Riflessioni sulla rappresentazione di sè (1987), "Storia di una passione senza corpo" (1992), "Bemberg e l'arte di Gruau" (1995), "Aldo Coppola" (2000), "Emilio Cavallini" (2010), "Discipline fashion. The Ethics of Appearance" (Discipline della moda. L'etica dell'apparenza, 2003).

Later years

Since the mid-2010s there has been a renaissance in Barzini's public career. In 2015, designer Antonio Marras dedicated his autumn collection to her. In 2018, Barzini starred in a photo shoot for Vogue Italia.

In 2021, she became the face of the Gucci Beauty cosmetics line.

Awards and honors In 2017, Barzini received a gold medal for civil honor from the Milan City Council, in part for “destroying the stereotype of the brainless cover girl.”

In 2018, she won the Victoria award of the initiative Il tempo delle donne, established by Procter & Gamble.

In cinema

Barzini was the subject of Malanga's 30-minute experimental film In Search of the Miraculous (1967).

The 2019 documentary film, The Disappearance of My Mother, was directed by Beniamino Barrese, Barzini’s son. The film showed at the London Film Festival 2019, Sundance, and other festivals, events, and venues, charting in at the 32nd Annual European Film Awards.