A polymathic artist—actress, writer, director, playwright—she was Italy!s first female monologist, the first woman comedian, and was awarded both the Gold Medal for

Cultural and Artistic Merit and the Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Though never explicitly aligning herself with feminism, Franca Valeri, through her artistic expression and example, played a pivotal role in the emancipation of women. She consistently challenged the mechanisms of patriarchal society. "Her female characters,” writes Alexandra Ammendola, "were strong and independent, defying traditional roles.” In the preface to “Franca Valeri. Tutte le Commedie” Lella Costa observes: "She led a revolution [...] without proclamations, without war bulletins, without bloodshed or detergent spills [...]. She carried it out by giving voice and body to those sharp-edged words, using every available medium—radio, cabaret, television, cinema, theatre, even opera. She did so with a barely perceptible smile, with the vertigo of pure comedy, with the craftsmanship of narrative structures, with pietas disguised as irony. If she is not a warrior, I do not know who is.”

Her subtle yet relentless battle began early—indeed, even before she became Franca Valeri, when she was still Franca Norsa, her birth name. This journey, this artistic and intellectual trajectory, is now on display thanks to the invaluable contribution of the Fondo Franca Valeri at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici in Milan. The exhibition, curated by Renata Bianconi and presented by NP ArtLab on the occasion of Museocity 2025, offers a rare opportunity to witness her legacy.

From a young age, Valeri demonstrated keen intelligence, wit, and irony, exposing societal stereotypes with a gaze that was both detached and amused. This very perspective would become her refuge during one of the darkest moments of her life—war and racial laws—which, in 1938, forced her into hiding. In isolation, at just eighteen, she began sketching in small notebooks, now exhibited to the public: portraits of emancipated women, imaginary women, modern and audacious figures, depicted in cafés, smoking cigarettes, on trams—women who faced life head-on, with confidence, relying on no one but themselves.

Yet, the road travelled by Franca Valeri over the course of her hundred-year life was not a solitary one. Hers was a via maestra, a guiding path that branched into new directions, shaping landscapes and reconfiguring society. It is in this spirit that Valeri!s portraits intersect with those of Maddalena Tesser (b. 1992), a young painter whose bold and immediate brushwork captures icons of female freedom: Franca Viola, the first woman to refuse a forced marriage; Simone de Beauvoir, Josephine Baker, Maria Callas— revolutionary artists and thinkers who defied conventions.

Likewise, the elegant force of Franca Valeri!s artistic legacy resonates in the sculptural works of Mirella Bentivoglio, another formidable figure in Italian art. Bentivoglio—a poet,

artist, and critic—was a leading exponent of international verbovisual experimentation. In 1978, at the 38th Venice Biennale, she curated the seminal exhibition Materializzazione del linguaggio at the Magazzini del Sale, a groundbreaking showcase dedicated exclusively to female artists—an emblematic moment in the history of feminist artistic practice.

To borrow the words of Franca Valeri herself, "Feminism is not militancy; it is a sentiment.” Special thanks to:

Dr. Carlo Marietti Andreani
President - Accademia dei Filodrammatici

Dr Alexandra Ammendola,
author of “Franca Valeri attrice comica. Studio di Scene di vita da La Maria Brasca di Giovanni Testori”

Dr Elisa Battistoni,
Executive Assistant and Office Management - Accademia dei Filodrammatici

Dr Lucia M. Fagnoni,
Librarian and Archivist - Accademia dei Filodrammatici

IT



ARTISTS 

Franca Valeri
Mirella Bentivoglio
Maddalena Tesser