1. Art, Music and Women

2. Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi or Artemisia Lomi (July 8, 1593 – c. 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation following that of Caravaggio. In an era when female painters were not easily accepted by the artistic community or patrons, she was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno  in Florence and had international clientele. She specialized in painting pictures of strong and suffering women from myths, allegories, and the Bible - victims, suicides, warriors.

3. Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 – 16 November 1625),  was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education, that included the fine arts, and her apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. As a young woman, Anguissola traveled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent, and to Milan, where she painted the Duke of Alba. The Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois, was a keen amateur painter and in 1559 Anguissola was recruited to go to Madrid.  She later became an official court painter to the king, Philip II. After the queen's death, Philip helped arrange an aristocratic marriage for her. She moved to Sicily, and later Pisa and Genoa, where she continued to practice as a leading portrait painter.

4. Rosalba Carriera
Rosalba Carriera (12 January 1673 – 15 April 1757) was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. It is for this that she was able to establish a career in portraiture. Carriera would later become known for her pastel work, a medium appealing to Rococo styles for its soft edges and flattering surfaces. She is remembered as one of the most successful women artists of any era.

5. Gae Aulenti
Gae Aulenti  ( 4 December 1927 – 31 October 2012) was a prolific Italian architect , whose work spans industrial and exhibition design, furniture, graphics, stage design, lighting and interior design.  She was well known for several large-scale museum projects, including the Musée d’Orsay  in Paris (1980–86), the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the restoration of Palazzo Grassi  in  Venise (1985–86), and the  Asian Art Museum of San Fransisco  (2000–2003). Aulenti was one of the few women designing in the postwar period in Italy, where Italian designers sought to make meaningful connections to production principles beyond Italy.

6. Carla Fracci
Carla Fracci  was born on 20 August 1936 in Milan; she is an Italian ballet dancer and actress. Thanks to her extensive career and her acclaimed interpretation of several classical romantic ballets such as La Sylphide, Fracci became one of the most experienced and recognized interpreters of Romantic ballets. Her career highlights include Nijinsky, Giselle (American Ballet Theatre), and partners such as Rudolf Nureyev, Vladimir Vasiliev, Henning Kronstam, Giuseppe Picone, Roberto Bolle …etc

7. Sofia Loren
Sofia Villani Scicolone  was born on 20 September 1934 in Rome, known by her stage name Sophia Loren  is an Italian film actress and singer. Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career in 1950 at age 16. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount  in 1956 launched her international career. Notable film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat and It started in Naples.

8. Gina Lollobrigida
Luigina "Gina" Lollobrigida was born on 4 July 1927 in Subiaco; she is an Italian actress, photojournalist and sculptor. She was one of the highest profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As her film career slowed, she established second careers as a photojournalist and sculptress. In the 1970s, she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview. She has continued as an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation.

9. Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale  was born on 15 April 1938 in La Goulette in Tunis; she is an Italian Tunisian film actress and  sex symbol who appeared in some of the most acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, mainly Italian or French, but also in several English films.
Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy, which quickly led to film contracts. After making her debut in a minor role with  Omar Sharif in Goha  (1958), Cardinale became one of the best-known actresses in Italy.

10. Anna Magnani
Anna Magnani was born on 7 March 1908 and died on 26 September 1973; she was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo. She worked her way through Rome's Academy of Dramatic Art by singing at night clubs. She was referred to as "La Lupa," the perennial toast of Rome and a living she-wolf symbol of the cinema. Director Roberto Rossellini called her "the greatest acting genius

11. Mina
Anna Maria Mazzini  was born on 25 March 1940 in Busto Arsizio; she is an  Italian singer She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, known for her three-octave vocal range,  the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an emancipated woman.
In performance, Mina combined several modern styles with traditional Italian melodies and swing music, which made her the most versatile pop singer in Italian music . Mina dominated the country's charts for fifteen years and reached an unsurpassed level of popularity, with 150 million records sold. She has scored  79 albums and 71 singles on the Italian charts.