Early life and career beginnings Adionilla Pizzi was the daughter of Angelo, a farmer also responsible for municipal road maintenance, and Maria, a tailor and seamstress. She had two younger sisters. She was first employed in tailoring, then at the military bakery in Casaralta (a borough of
Bologna), and finally as a radio tester at
Ducati, also in Bologna. Pizzi's career started out in the field of beauty reviews that, at the end of the 1930s, began to make their appearance. On 4 November 1938, at the age of 19, she participated in a show for the soldiers of the 59th Infantry Regiment of Bologna, as a feast for the
Italian Armed Forces. In 1939 she participated in the
Miss Italia contest. In 1940, she performed in other shows organised for the Armed Forces, even being elected mascot of the 35th Infantry Regiment of Bologna. In 1942, she won a competition for new voices organized by
EIAR, the Italian radio broadcaster, in front of ten thousand competitors, where she interpreted the songs "" by
Alberto Rabagliati, and "" by
Oscar Carboni. She then began performing with the orchestra Zeme, debuting on the radio the same year, performing the tune "", composed by Guido Cergoli. Her first album for
Parlophon was recorded on 20 February 1944, dueting with Bruna Rattani in "" and accompanying Elsa Peyrone in "". On 23 February, her first solo song "" was released. However, Pizzi always denied this, claiming it was a Parlophon mistake on the label. Either way, she was removed from the radio after a negative judgment handed down by the maestro Tito Petralia in the spring of 1944, as her voice was allegedly considered too sensual and exotic for the
Fascist regime. However, she continued to tour the theatres and ballrooms of all Italy in 1945 and 1946, following the orchestra of maestro
Cinico Angelini, to whom she had romantically linked. Her permanent return to radio occurred in 1946, when she signed a recording contract that tied her to
Cetra. However, she was reportedly forced to record using aliases, with some records being released without any mention (i.e. anonymously). By 1949, Pizzi was finally allowed to return to record using only her own name. Despite the aliases and anonymity, she had still become very popular, gathering wide acclaim by launching many popular songs. The period from 1948 to 1950 changed the trends and tastes of the public, due to the affirmation of the Latin American style imposed through Hollywood by
Xavier Cugat and
Carmen Miranda, and then spread in Italy songs to the rhythm of
samba,
rumba, bayon,
calypso and
cha cha cha. However, Nilla Pizzi was also able to juggle her signature cheerful songs thanks to ironic interpretations. She also performed duets with her colleague Luciano Benevene, with songs like "
Bongo Bongo Bongo", "" and "".
1950s The 1950s saw her become the singer of many successful songs, as "", written for her by a certain Casasco. In 1951 she won the first
Sanremo Music Festival with "", also finishing second with "", sung in duet with
Achille Togliani. "" would go on to sell 36,000 copies, a massive success for the era. In the same year, the Italian version of the hit "
Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)", titled "", was quite successful. The following year she triumphed again at the Sanremo Festival conquering the entire podium (first, second and third place) respectively with "", "", and "", which remains a record to this day never equaled by any other singer (since 1967, every entrant in the event must perform only one competing song). She was dubbed "the Queen of Italian Music" and her songs are deemed to have marked an era: "" accompanied the return of
Trieste to Italy while "" sold 75,000 copies, was translated into over forty languages and became a classic of Italian music (with a version also being recorded by the famous tenor
Beniamino Gigli), despite the original lyrics having been censored due to overt political allusions. In 1952, Pizzi won the first edition of the alongside Franco Ricci, singing "". She also won third place with "", sung in conjunction with
Sergio Bruni. At the
Sanremo Festival 1953, she placed second with "" presented in pairs with
Teddy Reno. Immediately, however, she drew on other recordings that confirmed her success. and
Johnny Dorelli at the
1958 edition of Sanremo She then successfully toured America, participating in radio and television broadcasts, recording records, and triumphing with the song "". In 1957, she won the with "" paired with
Nunzio Gallo; in parallel she triumphed at the Sicilian Song Festival with the song "". She also embarked on a tour of Russia with Paolo Bacilieri, from which she brought to Italy the songs "" and "" ("
Midnight in Moscow"), recorded with the Roman New Orleans Jazz Band of Carlo Loffredo. In the same year, she starred on the RAI National Program (precursor to
Rai 1), directed by Antonello Falqui, where invited designers, actresses and other prominent female characters became forerunners of modern talk shows. In the same year she took part in two series of the television advertising column . In
1958, she returned to the Sanremo Festival where she placed second and third with "" and "", with
Tonina Torrielli and
Gino Latilla respectively. A few months later she won the 1958 edition of with "". In 1959 she won the Barcelona Festival (over
Claudio Villa presenting ""), and the Critics' Prize of
that year's Sanremo Festival with "". She placed third at the with "" alongside Sergio Bruni.
1960s–1980s In 1960, she returned to the
Sanremo Festival and entered the song "" in couple with Tonina Torrielli, ranking fourth, whilst her other entry "" was eliminated before the final. Starting from this period, the contrast of the ever-growing
rock and roll and
beat with Pizzi's traditional melodic song caused her to be set aside by record companies. Although she could no longer achieve the same success in Italy as in previous decades, the singer was still able to carve her own place in the music scene, both in Italy and internationally, under the auspices of her new label, the
RCA Italiana, in the "revival-nostalgic" and "folkloristic" vein of music. She kept recording songs in different
regional languages, and also participated very often as a guest in various television and radio broadcasts. (right) and Redento Coslovi in 1974 on the show , 1974 She opened a night club in
Acapulco paying homage to
Fred Buscaglione, who had died prematurely and tragically shortly before. The club was reportedly attended by other big names such as
Frank Sinatra,
Sammy Davis Junior,
Curd Jürgens, and
Caterina Valente. In June 1961, she participated in the . In 1962 she performed at the first singing "", but did not reach the final. In the same year she embarked on the first of a thirty-year series of successful tours in Australia, where she also appeared on local TV. In 1964 she was among the 42 participants of the first edition of , with the song "", but she failed to reach the final. In the same year she participated in the television parody of
The Three Musketeers for the variety show , directed by Antonello Falqui and set up by the , playing Queen
Anne of Austria, alongside Claudio Villa who played King
Louis XIII. She then received the prestigious award from the
Libyan government and in 1965 she won the
Sandrigo Festival, in the province of Vicenza, with the
Venetian-language song "". In the same year she returned to work as an actress: directed by
Alberto Lattuada she played Sostrata in
the film adaptation of
Machiavelli's
The Mandrake, alongside
Totò,
Romolo Valli,
Rosanna Schiaffino and
Philippe Leroy. Another successful tour of the United States took place in 1968, during which she performed alongside Frank Sinatra,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Perry Como and
Rosemary Clooney. In 1970, she recorded the album , with twelve tracks by the greatest Italian authors and composers of the period such as
Pino Calvi,
Carlo Donida, Bruno Pallesi,
Leo Chiosso,
Carlo Alberto Rossi, the writer
Leonida Repaci, as well as television presenters
Pippo Baudo and
Paolo Limiti. The album marked the transition to her new record label, Équipe. In 1972 her album won the Discographic Critics' Prize, a then very coveted award. In 1978 she participated as an actress in her last film: , the only film directed by
Maurizio Costanzo. In 1981
Gianni Ravera called her to present the
Sanremo Festival, alongside
Claudio Cecchetto and
Eleonora Vallone; Pizzi was the official ("godmother") of the event on the thirtieth anniversary of the first edition. From 1986 to 1990 she formed, together with
Carla Boni, Gino Latilla and
Giorgio Consolini, the group ("The ones from Sanremo"), with which she performed in numerous events. In the television season from 1986 to 1987 she hosted the program on the local
Milanese television, which had the theme song "". From 1988 to 1992 she was the host of another local television variety broadcast by a
Romagnol television station, entitled . In 1989 she participated in with "", in which, although not entering the final, she was given a plaque-prize, awarded by a commission, where "" was recognized as the most beautiful song of the first 40 years of the Sanremo Festival. == Personal life ==