Vittoria Crespi Morbio

Though she achieved fame late in life, Anna Anni (1926-2011) nevertheless remains a legend in the history of theatrical costumes. At La Scala, her work stood alongside that of Franco Zeffirelli, who entrusted her with her first supporting positions in the 1950s and later launched her career in a Cavalleria rusticana (1981) of spectacular beauty and poetry, for which the costume designer travelled to Sicily to learn the local styles and secrets to working with fabrics. Historical realism and thorough studies of sources acted as a fuse that led to the invention of an unbridled and imaginative richness in colour, admired also in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo (1981), in the renowned staging of Turandot by Puccini (1983) and in the less successful – yet in terms of costumes, exquisite – Don Carlo by Verdi (1992).

Today Anna Anni’s stage clothes are admired as little masterpieces of taste and style, and they mark an unrepeatable season of Italian lyric opera.