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Monica Vitti, the Italian screen icon who starred in numerous 1960s classics, has died. Vitti passed after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease; the actress was 90 years old and had been retired since 2002. Dubbed the "Queen of Italian Cinema," Vitti is known internationally for starring in Michelangelo Antonioni's breakthrough cinematic trilogy, which includes "L'Avventura," "La Notte" and "L'Eclisse." News of her death came from Italian news agency Ansa, citing a tweet from film critic and former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni:

"Roberto Russo, her companion in these years, asks me to communicate that Monica Vitti is no more. I do so with great grief, affection,...

The post Monica Vitti, Icon of '60s Italian Cinema, Has Died appeared first on /Film.

Monica Vitti, the Italian star of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film masterpieces, including his trilogy “L’avventura,” “La Notte” and “L’Eclisse,” has died. She was 90.

Vitti’s death was announced by Walter Veltroni, a former film critic and mayor of Rome, who said that her partner of many years Roberto Russo asked him to communicate the news.

“Roberto Russo, [her] partner of all these years, asks me to communicate that Monica Vitti is no longer there. I do it with pain, affection, regret,” Veltroni wrote in a tweet.

In Antonioni’s 1960 art-house classic “L’avventura,” Vitti portrayed a woman searching for her best friend along with her friend’s lover after she goes missing on a boating trip. The film and her performance is a moody, detached masterpiece that would define art-house cinema worldwide in the ’60s and made her an international star, even landing Vitti a BAFTA nomination.

“L’avventura” was the first of...

Italian actress Monica Vitti, best known internationally for starring in Michelangelo Antonioni’s breakthrough cinematic trilogy “L’Avventura,” “La Notte” and “L’Eclisse,” as well as in the director’s “Red Desert,” has died. She was 90.

The news of her death was tweeted by former Rome mayor and film critic Walter Veltroni on Wednesday.

Roberto Russo, il suo compagno di tutti questi anni, mi chiede di comunicare che Monica Vitti non c’è più. Lo faccio con dolore, affetto, rimpianto.

— walter veltroni (@VeltroniWalter) February 2, 2022

(Roberto Russo, her companion in these years, asks me to communicate that Monica Vitti is no more. I do so with great grief, affection, and nostalgia)

Vitti, known for her enigmatic, distant beauty — the All Movie Guide termed her the “high priestess of frosty sensuality” — had been retired for more than a decade due to Alzheimer’s.

Vitti and Antonioni had certainly enjoyed a fruitful collaboration, but in...

Monica Vitti, the Italian screen icon known for a string of 1960s classics, died Wednesday at 90, according to reports in Italy.

The news was conveyed by writer, director and politician Walter Veltroni on behalf of Vitti’s husband, Roberto Russo:

Roberto Russo, il suo compagno di tutti questi anni, mi chiede di comunicare che Monica Vitti non c’è più. Lo faccio con dolore, affetto, rimpianto.

— walter veltroni (@VeltroniWalter) February 2, 2022

The feted actress, best known for movies including L’Avventura (1960), Red Desert (1964), L’Eclisse (1962) and La Notte (1961), had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for two decades.

Born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli on November 3, 1931, in Rome, Vitti acted in amateur productions as a teenager then trained at Rome’s National Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The actress shot to global fame following spectacular collaborations with legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Vitti starred in L’Avventura as a detached and...