ORNELLA
The news echoed through headlines across the globe: “Farewell to the Queen of Italian Song.” Ornella Vanoni has passed away at the age of 91, having gifted us her voice until the very end. She never retired from the stage; she never lowered the curtain on her art, even when her age suggested it might be time to stop performing in public.
In June 2024, at Caracalla, she bid farewell to Rome. Standing barefoot on stage among great guests and the hits of a lifetime, she took her leave from her audience with a concert-event—a tour named after one of her most beautiful songs: Senza Fine (Without End).
It is impossible for Bonsol not to pay tribute to the woman who, for so long, was the soundtrack of summer for anyone heading down to the beach. The collection of vinyl records bearing her name is infinite, and at Bonsol, we have almost all of them. As the records spun with her beautiful voice, guests would often ask, “What is the name of this singer?”
It was impossible to remain indifferent. That nasal voice with its velvety, sensual timbre stayed with you; you took it home with you even after your vacation ended.
A life dedicated to music with an unmistakable vocal style. we fondly remember many guests who, after looking at or photographing her name on a record sleeve, would search for news online or find her playlists on Spotify.
A modern diva who continued to speak to the youth, her songs are and will remain immortal. In 1961, Gino Paoli gave her Senza Fine, written specifically for her voice—perhaps because the "large hands" mentioned in the song were hers.
Great loves and great disappointments, from Paoli to Strehler, she eventually found herself married to a man she was never in love with. In all her partners, she searched for the memory of her father: “His hands pulling me by force onto the last train leaving Milan under the bombings. I remember him throwing himself over me in the fields to protect me from shrapnel. He saved me, and he ruined me. Because for a long time, I thought all men were like my father, ready to be killed for me.”
Five thousand people attended her funeral last week at the Church of San Marco in the heart of her beloved Milan’s Brera district. In accordance with her wishes, trumpeter Paolo Fresu played a few notes from two of her most famous songs: L’appuntamento and Senza Fine. As the homily ended, Fresu walked slowly, his trumpet producing a melancholy sound; starting from the back of the nave, as if not wanting to disturb anyone, he reached the coffin and placed a hand on it in a final gesture of farewell.
It is with these two iconic songs—sweet, melancholic, and our companions through so many seasons—that we at Bonsol wish to say goodbye to this immense queen of music: Ciao, Ornella. Thank you.