Luisa Villani

Luisa Villani (1884, San Francisco - 1961, Milan) was an Italian operatic soprano of American birth. She is best remembered for creating the role of Fiora in the world premiere of Italo Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re at La Scala in 1913.

Life and career Born in San Francisco, California, Villani was the daughter of Italian opera singers Giuseppina Zeppilli and Vincenzo Villani who were on a North American concert tour when she was born. Her grandfather was the Italian tenor Giuseppe Villani who had notably created the role of Peri in the world premiere of Antônio Carlos Gomes's Il Guarany at La Scala in 1870. She next appeared at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in the roles of Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello and Eva in Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Villani performed two leading roles in the Italian Grand Opera's season at the Academy of Music in September 1909: Mimi in Puccini's La bohème and Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Villani toured North America with both the Bessie Abott Opera Company in 1910 and Henry Wilson Savage's opera company in 1911. She also performed at the Teatro Arbeu in Mexico City as Mimi in Puccini's La bohème in 1910, and appeared with the Boston Opera Company as Leonora in Il trovatore in November 1910 with Carlo Galeffi as the Count di Luna.

In 1913 Villani returned to Milan where she was once again committed to La Scala. There she created the role of Fiora in the world premiere of Italo Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re on April 10, 1913. She returned to the United States later that year to join the roster of artists at the Boston Opera Company where she was a resident artist until the company's demise in 1915. and at the Gran Teatro de La Habana in 1914. She continued performing and touring with Rabinoff's Boston company in 1917; notably portraying the title role in Aida at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore with company in January 1917 with Giovanni Zenatello as Radamès. In 1917 she also starred in multiple opera productions staged at Columbia University, including portraying the title role in Tosca.

In 1918 Villani returned to Italy where she continued to perform. She also had a second career as a voice teacher in Florence before living her final years at the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan where she died in 1961.