Giulia Occhini (born in
Varano Borghi, 23 July 1922 – died in
Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure (; lij, Nêuve ; pms, Neuvi ) is a city and ''comune'' north of Genoa, in the Piedmont region of the province of Alessandria of northwest Italy.
The town produces food, iron, steel, and textiles. It is an important junction for bot ...
, 6 January 1993), known as "La Dama Bianca" (“The White Lady”), was the lover of champion cyclist
Fausto Coppi in a scandalous extramarital affair of the 1950s.
Given Coppi’s high profile, this affair led to the shift in attitudes among the
Christian Democrats
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
in Italy towards the moral and legal aspects of adultery. At the time in Italy, divorce was not permitted and adultery was still a crime. Occhini herself was tried for abandoning her marriage. Her story became emblematic of the conformist and repressive climate of that period.
[De Zan, p.75]
Her nickname originated after the 1954
St. Moritz
St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipalit ...
stage of the
Giro d'Italia, when Pierre Chany, a journalist with ''
L'Équipe
''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor wa ...
'', wrote: "We would like to know more about that lady in white (''dame en blanc'') we saw near Coppi,”
referring to the snow-coloured duffel coat she wore.
Biography
Occhini was married to Enrico Locatelli, a medical practitioner in Varano Borghi, and who was a passionate fan of Coppi. She met Fausto Coppi during the 1953 Tour at the end of the
Passo dello Stelvio stage and publicly appeared with the "Campionissimo" at the World Championships Prize 1953 in
Lugano
Lugano (, , ; lmo, label= Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Lugano has a populat ...
. Their friendship started in 1948 when the Locatelli had asked his wife to obtain an autograph of the "Campionissimo" at the end of the
Tre Valli Varesine. Later Occhini entered into correspondence with Coppi, who, solicited by Locatelli, personally met his family in a short visit to Varese. A romance began between Occhini and Coppi and they spent the summer together as lovers in 1953, vacationing in
Capri
Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...
.
Since they were both married, the relationship aroused great scandal at that time and was strongly opposed by public opinion, particularly by Fausto Coppi's fans, and Occhini was even the recipient of
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. ...
's public condemnation. Coppi and his wife, Bruna Ciampolini, unanimously separated in 1954, while Locatelli denounced Occhini for adultery. As a result of this, according to Italian law of time, the lovers having been caught “in flagrante”, the woman was punished with a month's imprisonment in
Alessandria
Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and '' comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin.
Alessandr ...
and then a period of house arrest in
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
. Coppi’s passport was withdrawn. Among these many difficulties, Coppi and Occhini married in Mexico (a marriage never recognized in Italy) and Occhini gave birth to a son, Angelo Fausto Coppi, who was born on May 13, 1955 in Buenos Aires.
Coppi died of malaria on January 2, 1960, which he caught on a trip to
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...
.
Giulia Occhini was admitted to San Giacomo Hospital in Novi Ligure following injuries sustained in a car accident that occurred just in front of Villa Coppi in hamlet
Barbellotta of Novi Ligure on 3 August 1991 on board a
Fiat Tipo, driven by a family friend, who was hit by a
Volkswagen Golf GTI
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
with two young people on board. She died on January 6, 1993, after having been in a coma for almost a year and a half. Giulia Occhini is buried in the new graveyard of Serravalle Scrivia, next to her daughter Loretta "Lolli" Locatelli (1946–1981), who died of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
.
The "white lady" in popular culture
* Giulia Occhini appeared as a character in the 1995 telemovie ''
Il Grande Fausto'' ("The Great Fausto"), played by
Ornella Muti
Ornella Muti (born Francesca Romana Rivelli; 9 March 1955) is an Italian actress. She made her film debut as Francesca Cimarosa in the 1970 film ''La moglie più bella.''
Early life
Muti was born in Rome to a Neapolitan journalist father and ...
* She was also portrayed in the 2006 miniseries ''
Gino Bartali – Il intramontabile'' ("Gino Bartali – The Timeless"), played by
Valentina Bruscoli.
* Italian bicycle manufacturer
Bianchi, which had close ties to Coppi, uses the brand "Dama Bianca" for its range of women's bicycles.
Notes
Bibliography
* Adriano De Zan, Pier Augusto Stagi, Gentili signori e signore buongiorno. Cinquant'anni di ciclismo, Milano, Baldini&Castoldi, 1999, .
* Gabriele Moroni, Fausto Coppi. Solitudine di un campione, Milano, Mursia, 2009, .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Occhini, Giulia
1993 deaths
Road incident deaths in Italy
1922 births