Italian film icon Monica Vitti dies aged 90

Monica Vitti, one of Italy’s most beloved actresses, celebrated for both her wit and beauty and famed as the muse of Michelangelo Antonioni, has died aged 90.

“Goodbye Monica Vitti, goodbye queen of Italian cinema. Today is a truly sad day, we have lost a great artist and a great Italian,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Wednesday.

Vitti shot to international fame with the 1960 drama ‘L’Avventura’ in which she plays a tormented woman who dallies with the lover of her missing friend.

Vitti’s death drew accolades across the spectrum of Italian society, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi saying Vitti “made Italian cinema shine around the world”.