Luisa Ferida

Luisa Ferida, real surname Manfrini (18 March 1914 – 30 April 1945), was an Italian stage and film actress. She was considered a diva in Italian cinema during 1935 to 1945 and was the highest paid movie star of that period. Ferida is remembered for her death; immediately after the end of the Italian Civil War, she was executed together with her lover, the actor and member of Decima Flottiglia MAS Osvaldo Valenti, as both were judged guilty of participation in war crimes and torture in connection with so-called Koch gang. Years later she was deemed uninvolved to the Koch's crimes. Therefore a war pension was allocated to the mother, who had no other source of income.

Career Born Luisa Manfrini Farnet in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna, Ferida started as a stage actress. In 1935 she made her first appearance in film with a supporting role in La Freccia d'oro. Because of her photogenic looks and talent as an actress, she soon graduated to leading roles by the end of the 1930s.

In 1939, while working on Un Avventura di Salvator Rosa (1940), directed by Alessandro Blasetti, she met the actor Osvaldo Valenti. The pair became romantically involved and had a son.

Death Ferida's romantic partner, Valenti had been linked to many fascist officials and people for years and he eventually joined the Italian Social Republic, and for this reason he was on the Italian resistance movement's (partisan's) hit list. In April 1945, Valenti was arrested in Milan, alongside a pregnant Ferida. They were both sentenced to death and were summarily executed in the street without any proper trial by partisans. The partisan chief who organized the execution, Giuseppe "Vero" Marozin, during a trial by Milano's tribunal, defended himself declaring that the partisan leader who by telephone ordered the two actors be executed was Sandro Pertini, who during the year 1978 became president of the Italian republic: this version is confirmed by Treccani.

Cultural references The film Sanguepazzo starring Luca Zingaretti and Monica Bellucci discusses Luisa Ferida's relationship with Osvaldo Valenti. The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Ferida is briefly mentioned in Natalia Ginzburg's 1969 autobiographical novel-cum-memoir, Family Lexicon (Lessico Famigliare), during a description of the wartime experience of Lisetta, a minor character, who had "been interrogated by Ferida" while imprisoned the Villa Triste after being arrested as part of the Italian resistance during World War II. The Villa Triste ("Sad Villa") was a house in Milan that served as the headquarters of Pietro Koch, the leader of the fascist anti-partisan gang of which Ferida and Valenti were members.

Partial filmography

Golden Arrow (1935) - Evelyn - figlia di Sleiden The Joker King (1936) - Trottola The Amnesiac (1936) - Giulietta The Two Sergeants (1936) - Lauretta Fracassa The Ambassador (1936) Il grande silenzio (1936) - La figlia dell'ucciso White Amazons (1936) The Castiglioni Brothers (1937) - Nina Castiglioni Tomb of the Angels (1937) - Luisa The Three Wishes (1937) - Maria Lauri I due barbieri (1937) The Count of Brechard (1938) - Maria All of Life in One Night (1938) - Maria L'argine (1938) - Sina Il suo destino (1938) - Maria, la ballerina Star of the Sea (1938) - Luisa Mad Animals (1939) - Maria Luisa An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (1939) - Lucrezia The Secret of Villa Paradiso (1940) - Mary, la cantante La fanciulla di Portici (1940) - Lucia The Iron Crown (1941) - Kavaora, madre di Tundra & Tundra Blood Wedding (1941) - Nazaria Amore imperiale (1941) - La principessa Elisabetta di Russia The Jester's Supper (1942) - Fiammetta Headlights in the Fog (1942) - Piera L'ultimo addio (1942) - Irene Serra Sleeping Beauty (1942) - Carmela Orizzonte di sangue (1942) - Daria Fedora (1942) - Fedora Jealousy (1942) - Agrippina Solmo Knights of the Desert (1942) - Ara The Son of the Red Corsair (1943) - Carmen Sad Loves (1943) Tristi amori (1943) - Emma Scarli Grazia (1943) The Innkeeper (1944) - Mirandolina Fatto di cronaca (1945) - (final film role)