On Nov. 15 beautiful Moira Orfei died in Brescia at age 84, plunging many Italians into a special kind of nostalgic mourning. A circus kid, she flew on a trapeze, appeared in 34 films and had two children. As her life shows, Italian women star in an huge variety of fields, from politics to cinema, haute cuisine. Here in Part I we begin to meet a few who go well beyond the traditional image of "la mamma." With Elena Cattaneo, Nadia Santini, Roberta Pinotti, Lina Wertmuller, Maria Teresa Salvemini Ristuccia
