• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trending:
  • Kashmir
  • Elections
Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Daily Times

Your right to know

  • HOME
  • Latest
  • Iran-Israel Tensions
  • Pakistan
    • Balochistan
    • Gilgit Baltistan
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
  • World
  • Editorials & Opinions
    • Editorials
    • Op-Eds
    • Commentary / Insight
    • Perspectives
    • Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Featured
    • Blogs
      • Pakistan
      • World
      • Ramblings
      • Lifestyle
      • Culture
      • Sports
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • E-PAPER
    • Lahore
    • Islamabad
    • Karachi

‘Indominable’: Milva, beloved Italian singer, dies at 81

Milva, one of Italy´s most popular singers in the ´60s and ´70s who was also beloved by many fans abroad, died Saturday at her home in Milan. She was 81.

In announcing her death, Italy´s Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Milva´s versatile voice “stirred deep emotions in entire generations.” No cause of death was given.

Milva also starred as a stage actress, with a repertoire heavily based on the works of German playwright Bertolt Brecht. She often worked with Milan theater director Giorgio Strehler, who directed her in one of Brecht’s signature works, “The Threepenny Opera,” a musical drama.

Born in 1939 as Maria Ilva Biolcati in Goro, a Po River delta town, she adopted the one-word stage name Milva. Along with Italian singers Ornella Vanoni and Mina, another performer who used a first name only, Milva was considered one of the greatest Italian popular female singers.

Milva sold some 80 million records, the LaPresse news agency said, and recorded 173 albums. She was nicknamed “Milva the Red,” for her voluminous red hair as well as “the Panther of Goro” for her vitality.

Germany, France and Italy all honored her with national awards. Milva also had a following of fans in Asia, particularly in South Korea. She appeared 15 times at the San Remo festival, the annual contest to promote Italian songs, joking after her 12th time that she never would win.

One of her hits was the song “Alexander Platz.” Composed by Italian songwriter Franco Battiato in 1982, it explored love in divided Berlin during Cold War times, with its name taken from the famous Berlin square Alexanderplatz. Other top Italian songwriters whose works Milva sang included Luigi Tenco and Fabrizio De Andre.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Saturday praised Milva as a “cultured, sensitive and versatile interpreter, much appreciated abroad.” He extended his condolences to her family. Milva, who announced her retirement in 2010 after more than a half-century of performing, lived in Milan with a daughter, Martina Corgnati. The singer’s former husband, Maurizio Corgnati, was a TV director who died in 1992.

Music critic Mario Luzzatto Fegiz wrote in Corriere della Sera that among Milva’s many talents was the uncanny ability to sing just about any kind of music in any language after listening to it just once.

“She worked by memory,” Luzzatto Fegiz recalled. “In German, she wasn’t even able to order breakfast.”

Milan’s Piccolo Theater Strehler said it would host a wake on Tuesday in its foyer and that Milva’s funeral to follow will be private. In a Facebook post, the theater paid tribute to her, saying she was an “indominable, sensitive, passionate woman, an artist all heart and voice.”

Filed Under: Lifestyle

Submit a Comment




Primary Sidebar




Latest News

Govt sets bold target to slash port clearance delays by 70%

South Africa pushes back against Trump’s 30% tariff, calls for fair trade talks

Rare white tiger and lion cub rescued in Faisalabad wildlife raid

Sindh greenlights Rs10.56 billion interest-free loan for DHA water supply

Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen among top players called for white-ball camp in Karachi

Pakistan

Rare white tiger and lion cub rescued in Faisalabad wildlife raid

Sindh greenlights Rs10.56 billion interest-free loan for DHA water supply

Turkey’s foreign and defense chiefs set for key talks with Pakistan

IHC gets new chief justice as Sarfraz Dogar takes oath

Court approves 10-day remand of Dr Mahrang Baloch and BYC activists

More Posts from this Category

Business

Gold prices surge by Rs1,500 per tola in Pakistan

Experts say Pakistan’s EV growth needs time and strong policies

Pakistan to import half a million tons of sugar amid price surge

PSPC-NPSC merger finalized: A new era in secure printing begins

SBP not to repeat past mistakes of accelerating demand, economic growth

More Posts from this Category

World

South Africa pushes back against Trump’s 30% tariff, calls for fair trade talks

China welcomes tourists with expanded visa-free entry for 74 countries

Fake ‘Marco Rubio’ uses AI to deceive world leaders and US officials

More Posts from this Category




punjab

Footer

Home
Lead Stories
Latest News
Editor’s Picks

Culture
Life & Style
Featured
Videos

Editorials
OP-EDS
Commentary
Advertise

Cartoons
Letters
Blogs
Privacy Policy

Contact
Company’s Financials
Investor Information
Terms & Conditions

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube

© 2025 Daily Times. All rights reserved.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy