Il Teatro di Lyda Borelli
Edited by Maria Ida Biggi and Marianna Zannoni
Fratelli Alinari, Florence 2017

This book is the first monograph on the actress Lyda Borelli’s theatrical career, from her youthful beginnings until she retired in 1918. The result of lengthy research work, the essays by Maria Ida Biggi, Marianna Zannoni and Maria Dolores Cassano enable us to retrace the brilliant career of a captivating
actress, one of the first female theatre company leaders in Italy, loved and celebrated by the public and the press, even before her name was indistinguishably linked to the image of a silent-film diva who entered history.
Lyda Borelli perfectly embodies the modern woman of the early 20th century: her image as being emancipated, also constructed through the female characters that she played on the stage, contributed to creating the icon of the belle époque diva. Often the subject of life-style articles in the society columns
of periodicals and newspapers, she caught the public eye for the sophistication of her toilettes. A forerunner of incipient modernity, she was also the muse of contemporary Futurist thinkers. Letters, newspaper articles, first-hand accounts and many unpublished documents have enabled the authors to analyse Lyda Borelli’s stage career in relation to the cultural and social context of her time, in a hitherto unpublished, unique story.