Pina Menichelli

Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli 10 January 1890 29 August 1984 known professionally as Pina Menichelli was an Italian actress After a career in theatre and a series of small film roles Menichelli was launched as a film star when Giovanni Pastrone gave her the lead role in The Fire 1916 Over the next nine years Menichelli made a series of films often trading on her image as a diva and on her passionate decadent eroticism Menichelli became a global star and one of the most appreciated actresses in Italian cinema before her retirement in 1924 aged 34 Since her death restorations of Menichellis surviving films have been shown at important film festivals and her filmography has been reassembled and reevaluated by film historians