Palau mourns Isa Barzizza: Totò's muse actress died at 93

Great condolences in Palau for the death of Isa Barzizza , the 93-year-old actress , Totò's muse, who had found her home in Sardinia 40 years ago .

The announcement of the disappearance, which took place yesterday, was given by the parish priest, Don Paolo Pala .
«I inform you that our acquired compatriot, honorary citizen of Palau, has passed away – the words of don Pala on Facebook -. Our most affectionate condolences go out to his daughter Carlotta, his son-in-law Gigi, his grandchildren Martino and Nicola.

The funeral will take place this afternoon , at 5 pm, in the church of the Redeemer .

Born in Sanremo on November 22, 1929, daughter of the composer and conductor Pippo Barzizza and Tatina Salesi, Luisita «Isa» Barzizza made her debut in the theater while still very young , first with the company of Ruggero Ruggeri and then with that of the De Filippo brothers.

Immediately after the Second World War she established herself as one of the most popular showgirls of the revue theatre , a leading star in the shows signed by Erminio Macario and Remigio Paone , a great impresario and talent scout. During this period he worked with many comedians on the stage, alongside whom he often found himself on the big screen.

He will therefore become a graceful and witty "sidekick" for Totò and other comedians in the cinema, such as Carlo Campanini, Nino Taranto, Walter Chiari and Carlo Dapporto.

From Totò she herself would have said that she learned all the secrets of the trade : from the direct relationship with the public to the comedic tempos, from mimicry to the use of space on the stage. At the theater he performed with Totò two shows: "Once upon a time there was a world" (1948) and "Bada che ti mangio" (1949). In the latter comedy the gag of the sleeping car was born, also revived in the film "Totò a colori" of 1952. With Totò he also made his cinema debut in the film "The two orphans" of 1947 and made 11 films with him.

In 1960, at the age of only 31, she decided to interrupt her career in the brilliant theater following the death of her husband , the television director Carlo Alberto Chiesa, in a road accident on June 3, 1960 on the Via Aurelia. For some years he devoted himself totally to his only daughter; she then became romantically involved with the builder Enzo Villoresi.

The return to the theater only in the early nineties, again in comedies such as "La pulce nell'orecchio" directed by Gigi Proietti, or "Arsenic and old lace", by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Mario Monicelli. In 1995 he participated in the Spoleto Festival with Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee and in 1999 he interpreted a version of the theatrical adaptation of the novel Sorelle Materassi by Aldo Palazzeschi, alongside Lauretta Masiero.

In the same period she also returned to work in the cinema and on television: she hosted the gravure "Mai dire mai" for Rai 3 in 1989 with Fabio Fazio and Giampiero Mughini and participated in the two series of the Rai 1 fiction "Let's not leave us anymore" (1999 and 2001).

In 2012 in the film "Viva l'Italia" she returned to the big screen playing the role of Marisa, an elderly woman hospitalized.

(Unioneonline/vl)