Miss Italia Explained

Miss Italia is a beauty pageant awarding prizes every year to young, female contestants from Italy. Since the first edition of the contest, in 1939, many of the contestants have gone on to notable careers in television and film.

History

The forerunner of Miss Italia was Miss Sorriso (Miss Smile), started in 1939 by Dino Villani and sponsored by a brand of toothpaste. Contestants were judged by their photographs rather than competing on a runway.

After a break during World War II, the contest resumed in 1946 and adopted the present-day name of Miss Italia. It was held in Stresa, which had managed to maintain its hotel infrastructure despite the war. The venue then changed several times before it was established that Salsomaggiore Terme would be the permanent, annual host of the pageant.

Like contemporary Italian society itself, Miss Italia has gone through many changes over the years. In 1950 it was first broadcast on the radio. But since 1987 it has been broadcast live on television. As of 1990 the chest, waist, and hip measurements of the contestants are no longer judged, and in 1994 the contest was opened to married women and mothers (the 1987 winner had been disqualified when it was later discovered she was married). In 1996, Denny Méndez became the first Miss Italia woman of colour.

Among the participants finding later success in cinema and the entertainment industry at large (although many of them have not won the crown of Miss Italia itself) include: Silvana Pampanini, Sophia Loren, Marcella Mariani,^[1] Lucia Bosè, Stefania Sandrelli, Mirca Viola, Simona Ventura, Patrizia Deitos, Anna Falchi and Martina Colombari.

Since 1959 the organizer of Miss Italia has been Enzo Mirigliani, to whose work the contest owes much of its current success. The jury groups that elect Miss Italia have included celebrities such as Totò, Giorgio de Chirico, Giovannino Guareschi, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, Gina Lollobrigida, Alberto Lattuada, Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Lina Wertmüller, Dino Risi, Alberto Sordi, and Claudia Cardinale.

Besides the title of "Miss Italia", during the pageant other consolation prizes are also awarded, including "Miss Elegance" and "Miss Cinema". In 1991 a separate pageant was instituted, called "Miss Italia nel Mondo", a competition for Italian women living abroad.

Miss Italia will no longer be held in Salsomaggiore Terme, for economic reasons. This was announced in April 2011 and a long list of cities have expressed interest in hosting the pageant. Cities include Sanremo, Rome, Fiuggi, Taormina and many more. It was officially announced that Miss Italia 2011 will be held in Montecatini Terme. Milly Carlucci will not return as host of the pageant. Fabrizio Frizzi has replaced her for Miss Italia 2011. The pageant will only take place over two nights, rather than three.^[2] This year the beauty pageant contest, back in a national broadcast television. The contest will be produced by Infront and RAI, The host will be Alessandro Greco. A program by Casimiro Lieto, Luca Parenti and Alessandro Migliaccio. Directed by Francesco Ebner.^[3] ^[4]

In July 2023, in response to Miss Nederland being won by an openly transgender woman (Rikkie Kollé), Miss Italia instituted a blanket ban on trans women from competing.^[5] ^[6] As a response, several trans men applied to enter the contest.^[7]

Regional rankings

Titles		Winning Years
12		1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1993, 2000, 2015, 2020, 2022
11		1954, 1966, 1976, 1977, 1988, 1995, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014
11		1940, 1941, 1947, 1956–1960, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1990, 2019, 2023
6		1957, 1964, 1989, 1992, 2002, 2007
6		1946, 1973, 1980, 1996, 2016, 2024
5		1948, 1970, 1974, 1984, 1987
5		1955, 1968, 1997, 2009, 2011
5		1939, 1983, 2004, 2005, 2023
4		1959, 1986, 2001, 2021
4		1949, 1969, 1981, 2018
3		1958, 1991, 1998
2		2006, 2017
2		1962, 2010
2		1963, 1994
2		1961, 1975
1		1999
1		1979
0
0
0

The winners of Miss Italia

Miss Sorriso
1939	Isabella Verney	1940	Gianna Maranesi		1941	Adriana Serra
1942	No pageant	1943	No pageant	1944	No pageant
1945	No pageant
Miss Italia
1946	Rossana Martini	1947	Lucia Bosè	1948	Fulvia Franco
1949	Mariella Gianpieri	1950	Anna Maria Bugliari	1951	Isabella Valdettaro
1952	Eloisa Cianni	1953	Marcella Mariani	1954	Eugenia Bonino
1955	Brunella Tocci	1956	Nives Zegna	1957	Beatrice Faccioli
1958	Paola Falchi	1959	Marisa Jossa	1960	Layla Rigazzi
1961	Franca Cattaneo	1962	Raffaella De Carolis	1963	Franca Dallolio
1964	Mirka Sartori	1965	Alba Rigazzi	1966	Daniela Giordano
1967	Cristina Businari	1968	Graziella Chiappalone	1969	Anna Zamboni
1970	Alba Balestra	1971	Maria Pinnone	1972	Adonella Modestini
1973	Margareta Veroni	1974	Loredana Piazza	1975	Livia Jannoni
1976	Paola Bresciano	1977	Anna Kanakis	1978	Loren Cristina May
1979	Cinzia De Ponti	1980	Cinzia Lenzi	1981	Patrizia Nanetti
1982	Federica Moro	1983	Raffaella Baracchi	1984	Susanna Huckstep
1985	Eleonora Resta	1986	Roberta Capua	1987	Michela Rocco di Torrepadula^[8]
1988	Nadia Bengala	1989	Eleonora Benfatto	1990	Rosangela Bessi
1991	Martina Colombari	1992	Gloria Zanin	1993	Arianna David
1994	Alessandra Meloni	1995	Anna Valle	1996	Denny Mendez
1997	Claudia Trieste	1998	Gloria Bellicchi	1999	Manila Nazzaro
2000	Tania Zamparo	2001	Daniela Ferolla	2002	Eleonora Pedron
2003	Francesca Chillemi	2004	Cristina Chiabotto	2005	Edelfa Chiara Masciotta
2006	Claudia Andreatti	2007	Silvia Battisti	2008	Miriam Leone
2009	Maria Perrusi	2010	Francesca Testasecca	2011	Stefania Bivone
2012	Giusy Buscemi	2013	Giulia Arena	2014	Clarissa Marchese
2015	Alice Sabatini	2016	Rachele Risaliti	2017	Alice Rachele Arlanch
2018	Carlotta Maggiorana	2019	Carolina Stramare	2020	Martina Sambucini
2021	Zeudi Di Palma	2022	Lavinia Abate	2023	Francesca Bergesio
2024	Ofelia Passaponti	2025		2026