by Stephanie Hotz

This essay examines Rita Pavone’s star image and musical films of the 1960s, including a close analysis of two of her most famous musicarelli, Rita la zanzara (Rita the Mosquito, 1966) and its sequel Non stuzzicate la zanzara (Don’t Sting the Mosquito, 1967). While studies on the postwar “woman’s film” have focused primarily on melodramas,