Ornella Vanoni has died, aged 91 years.
Born in Milan on 22 September 1934, his father was a pharmaceutical industrialist. During his teenage years he grew up in Switzerland, France and England. In 1953 he returned to Milan and enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Arts Little Theatre by Giorgio Strehler, interested in pursuing a career in acting. Here he entered his master’s good graces, so much so that he began a relationship with his master that lasted for a year. Her debut in the world of entertainment as an actress began in 1956. She made her first appearance as a singer on the occasion of the first performance in Piccolo “I Giacobini” by Federico Zardi, April 13, 1957.
Career
Her talent was recognized by the most important Italian writers, who always dedicated their songs to her voice; among these names are important figures of Italian musical culture such as Fabrizio de André, Lucio Dalla, Gino Paoli, Renato Zero, Eros Ramazzotti. In total he published 40 albums: the first, entitled with his name, was released in 1961. Among his best known songs we find “L’avventura”, “Tomorrow is another day”, “One Reason more”, “With you I am no longer there”, “Senza is fine”.
Personal
Ornella’s first great love arrived at the young age of 19 when she had true love at first sight with a director Giorgio Strehler. In 1960 he began a relationship with Gino Paolibegins a tortured and difficult love that won’t last. Years after their relationship ended, Vanoni stated that she had lost the child she was carrying with Paoli.
Also in 1960 Ornella married theater impresario Lucio Ardenzi, with whom she separated in 1962, after the birth of her son Cristiano. In particular, the relationship with the artist was never peaceful, especially because the artist’s career often kept him away from his family. According to the singer, the marriage was a mistake: “I still loved Gino and he advised me not to do it until the end, even threatening to come to the ceremony to sing Senza well,” she told La Repubblica. Among her loves was also Hugo Pratt.
The disease
The singer spoke about her illness during an interview with Verissimo, revealing that she suffers from it depression in his life.
The singer said that he went through a period where he always felt sad and because of that he went to an institution, where he was diagnosed with depression. Since he was young, the singer has suffered from strong insecurities, which have not diminished even though he has achieved great success over the years. «I suffer from anxiety, anxiety doesn’t let you sleep and when you don’t sleep you become depressed. I have experienced three long bouts of depression in my life. Depression causes a feeling of total abandonment, it is very underestimated, because it is an illness that cannot be seen. I took good care of myself with a psychiatrist, but I still continue to take care of myself to this day, because at a certain age it becomes more difficult to recover from depression.”
The constant struggle, in short, to avoid falling back into dark evil, which empties the emotions of those who suffer: “The depressed person is empty, he does not express feelings and does not accept them, a barrier is created that does not allow communication, he no longer feels anything”, explains the artist.
Vanoni then took matters into her own hands, going to a psychiatrist who, according to the singer, saved her. “After months, when I was better, I went to him and told him I wanted to stop him with psychotropic drugs, but he replied: ‘Don’t even think about it, he is a borderline subject’.” Now that the worst moments of depression have passed, the artist has been able to take back control of his life and work, but he does not consider himself fully recovered. “The only thing that can save you when you have these problems is antidepressants, which I still take,” he admits frankly. The trick so as not to fall into it again is to “take good care of yourself”, he concluded.
