Lidia Quaranta (6 March 1891 – 5 March 1928), also known with the stage name of Lydia Quaranta, was an Italian stage and film actress of the early 20th century.

Early career

Lidia Gemma Mattia Quaranta was born in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy, the older sister of twins

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpo ...

and Letizia Quaranta, who later on also became actresses. She began her stage career in the theatre company of Italian actor and director Dante Testa.''Enciclopedia del cinema in Piemonte''
In 1910, Quaranta and her sister Letizia were hired by Itala Film. However, she made her film debut in the 1910

Edoardo Bencivenga Edoardo Bencivenga (Naples, 1885 – Rome, June 6, 1934) was an Italian film director. Bencivegna began his career in 1907 with his first short film ''Raffaello e la Fornarina.'' In his career, he made over 60 films, the last one in 1922. Caree ...

-directed short ''L'ignota'' (English release title: ''The Unknown Woman'') for the little-known Aquila Films. In 1911, she appeared in her first film for Itala titled ''Clio e Filete'' (''Clio and Filete''), directed by Oreste Mentasti. She went on to perform in a number of short films for Itala, including the popular 1913 crime-drama ''Tigris'' opposite actor Dante Cappelli. During the 1910s, she also worked for such film companies as Tiber, Excelsa and

Ambrosio Film Ambrosio Film was an Italian film production and distribution company which played a leading role in Italian cinema during the silent era. Established in Turin in 1906 by the pioneering filmmaker Arturo Ambrosio, assisted by cinematographers G ...

Stardom

In 1914, Quaranta was cast in the title role in the lavish epic silent film ''

Cabiria ''Cabiria'' is a 1914 Italian Epic film, epic silent film, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and shot in Turin. The film is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). It follows the story o ...

'', directed by

Giovanni Pastrone Giovanni Pastrone, also known by his artistic name Piero Fosco (13 September 1883 – 27 June 1959), was an Italian film pioneer, director, screenwriter, actor and technician. Pastrone was born in Montechiaro d'Asti. He worked during the era ...

and with author Gabriele D'Annunzio cited as a scriptwriter. The film is set in ancient

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

, and

Cirta Cirta, also known by #Names, various other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was the ancient Berbers, Berber, Punic people, Punic and Roman Empire, Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria, Constantine, Algeria. Cirta was ...

during the period of the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

(218–202 BC). It follows a melodramatic main plot about an abducted girl, Cabiria, and features an eruption of

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...

, heinous religious rituals in

, the alpine trek of

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...

' defeat of the Roman fleet at the Siege of Syracuse and

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

manoeuvring in North Africa. Apart from being a classic on its own terms, the film is also notable for being the first film in which the long-running film character

Maciste Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of film, cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. He is usually depicted as a ...

(played by Bartolomeo Pagano) makes his debut. Running nearly three hours (14 reels), the film was one of the first feature-length films and was both critically and financially successful and launched Quaranta into international stardom. From 1915 to 1920, she appeared in several films for Turin-based production companies such as Gloria and Savoia Studios. At the height of her popularity, she was earning a then-unprecedented ₤10,000 lire a month during her contract with Itala Film, making her Italy's highest-paid film actress of the era.

Later career and death

After 1920, Quaranta appeared in several films for Fert Studios, Photodrama and Circe Film. Her last film appearance was in the 1925

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Camerini began his career in the film industry in 1920, working for his cousin the director Augusto Genina. Camerini went on to direct his own fi ...

-directed ''Voglio tradire mio marito'', starring Augusto Bandini and Alberto Collo.BFI Film Forever
accessed 18 March 2015 In early 1928, while at home in Turin, Quaranta fell ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. She languished in illness for several months before dying on the day before her 37th birthday. She had appeared in over seventy films.

References

Bibliography

*Moliterno, Gino. ''Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2008. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quaranta, Lidia 1891 births 1928 deaths Actresses from Turin Italian stage actresses Italian film actresses Italian silent film actresses 20th-century Italian actresses Deaths from pneumonia in Piedmont