Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli (10 January 1890 – 29 August 1984), known professionally as Pina Menichelli, was an Italian actress. After a career in theatre and a series of small film roles, Menichelli was launched as a film star when Giovanni Pastrone gave her the lead role in The Fire (1916). Over the next nine years, Menichelli made a series of films, often trading on her image as a diva and on her passionate, decadent eroticism. Menichelli became a global star, and one of the most appreciated actresses in Italian cinema, before her retirement in 1924, aged 34.
Since her death, restorations of Menichelli's surviving films have been shown at important film festivals, and her filmography has been re-assembled and re-evaluated by film historians.
Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli was born on 10 January 1890 in Castroreale, a small village in the province of Messina, Sicily. Her parents, Cesare and Francesca Malvica, were both touring theatre actors, who performed in Sicilian language. The Menichellis were part of a dynasty of performers, which included Nicola Menichelli, an important eighteenth century comedian. Her older sister Lilla, younger sister Dora, and brother Alfredo all became actors. Pina Menichelli was educated at the Sacre Cuore Catholic School in Bologna.

Return to Pina Menichelli Autograph Profile