Free, ironic and, above all, undisciplined, Ornella Vanoni was a fragile yet indomitable presence. She passed away quietly at the age of 91 during the night between November 21 and 22, following cardiac arrest. She had recently celebrated her birthday and left this world as she would have wished, without suffering. A sudden illness while seated in an armchair in her Brera home led to cardiac arrest and, almost imperceptibly, she slipped away on tiptoe, lightly and with swing. In an instant, she returned to spirit and voice, that silky, nocturnal timbre scented with smoke, always veiled in shadow and melancholy. With her passing, we lose a woman who won everyone over with her frank, unmistakably Milanese manner, sometimes aloof, always direct. In recent years she spoke of death as a familiar presence, something she did not fear. She had even organised her own funeral. With bitter irony she remarked, […]