Cicciolina, 70 years between porn and arthouse films, politics and courts

Seventy years, intensely lived: it is the least that can be said for Cicciolina, pseudonym of Ilona Staller, in turn stage name of Elena Anna Staller, who turns 70 on Friday, having been born on November 26, 1951 in Budapest. Two nationalities, Hungarian by birth and Italian by adoption and marriage; and many lives from childhood to peaceful ‘old age’, even if the common thought struggles to see her as an elderly woman … A particular life, from the beginning when the father leaves the family and she lives with her obstetric mother and stepfather. An adolescence started in the sign of art, dedicated to musical studies of violin and piano and then of classical and modern dance, finally leading to the world of images at the age of 13, as a model in a photo agency. But then, life calls for other commitments: she goes to work as a waitress in a hotel, where she also ‘collaborates’ as a spy for wealthy American businessmen, until she meets a Calabrian client, follows him in Italy and marries him. In the beautiful country she then met Riccardo Schicchi and began her ‘second life’ alongside her manager, who launched her on a nocturnal radio program earning herself the nickname of Cicciolina, given that ‘cicciolini’ and ‘ciccioline’ were the endearments with which she addressed to radio listeners during their telephone conversations with an erotic background. At this point, the step from Cacciolina to Ilona Staller is short, with the participation between 1975 and 1976 ‘soul and body’, especially the latter, in films such as’ The high school student ‘and’ The substitute teacher ‘; but Ilona-Cicciolina also stars in auteur films, directed by Alberto Lattuada in ‘Cuore di cane’ and by Miklos Jancsò for ‘Private vices, public virtues’. Also dated 1976 is the first full nude in an Italian club, which obviously sees her as the protagonist. While the landing on TV is a few years later, in 1980 with ‘C’era due volta’ directed by Enzo Trapani in the late evening on Rai2, where he performs in the company of a python, which is also his property. the time of pornographic films starting from 1983 and the parallel foundation with Riccardo Schicchi of the Diva Futura agency, which will discover – in every sense … – women like Moana Pozzi, Ramba, Barbarella. Only two years later, Cicciolina enters politics and does so from the front door: first she joins the Radical Party and its anti-nuclear battles, then in 1987 she presents herself and is elected to Parliament, by popular acclaim, since she wins second place for preference votes in his electoral list after the historical leader Marco Pannella. In 1992 he tried an encore by founding his own movement, the Party of Love together with Moana Pozzi: but without success, but luckily, success arrived in the courtrooms. In 1991 she married the American avant-garde sculptor Jeff Koons, but the marriage was wrecked after just over a couple of years; she moves to the US and engages in a legal battle to secure custody of her son Ludwig. The Italian court agrees with her, even though she is sentenced to 8 months in prison for having kidnapped her son in the United States and brought him to Italy. And she is acquitted in the international trial entitled ‘Ilona Staller’. In short: a sufficiently adventurous life, to now aspire to a peaceful ‘old age’ … Best wishes, Cicciolina! (by Enzo Bonaiuto)