1. Milva was known as La Rossa, due to the characteristic colour of her hair, and additionally as La Pantera di Goro, which stemmed from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female singers of the 1960s, combining the names of animals and the singers' birthplaces.
Milva released numerous albums in France, Japan, Korea, Greece, Spain, and South America.
Milva collaborated with European composers and musicians including Ennio Morricone in 1965, Francis Lai in 1973, Mikis Theodorakis in 1978, Enzo Jannacci in 1980, Vangelis in 1981 and 1986, and Franco Battiato in 1982,1986 and 2010.
Milva performed at La Scala in Milan, at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, at the Paris Opera, in the Royal Albert Hall in London and at the Edinburgh Festival, amongst others.
Milva was the only Italian artist in contemporary times who was simultaneously: Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic, Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
In 1962 Milva was the first singer to sing Edith Piaf's repertoire at the prestigious Olympia theatre in Paris.
Shortly afterwards, Milva released her second LP record, Milva canta per voi, a studio album that compiled several songs previously published as singles, in addition to covers of Edith Piaf songs, such as Non, je ne regrette rien, translated to Italian as Nulla rimpiangero, and Et maintenant, written by composer Gilbert Becaud and lyricist Pierre Delanoe.
In 1962 Milva co-starred in the Italian film La bellezza di Ippolita alongside Gina Lollobrigida and Enrico Maria Salerno a comedy film directed by Giancarlo Zagni, playing the role of Adriana.
In February, Milva participated in the Sanremo Musical Festival of 1962, competing with Tango italiano, a jazz-infused song written by Bruno Pallesi and Walter Malgoni.
Milva's performance earned her second place in the competition and the single that followed reached number one on the Italian charts.
From 30 April to 4 May 1963, Milva was a television presenter on the Italian variety show Il Cantatutto.
Shortly after, Milva released her third LP record Da Il Cantatutto con Milva e Villa, in which she performed studio versions of the songs she had sung on Il Cantatutto.
Milva recorded an EP for the Spanish market: Milva canta en espanol.
In January 1965, Milva released the multilingual studio album Canti della liberta, an album in which she sang revolutionary songs and songs of freedom, including the national anthem of France, La Marseilleise, written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, and La Carmagnole, a French song created and made popular during the French Revolution.
Milva's albums were certificated gold and platinum in West Germany.
In 1968, Milva released her fifth studio album, Tango, an album that consisted of tango standards sung in Italian.
In late 1969, Milva co-starred in the Italian musical comedy Angeli in bandiera, alongside Gino Bramieri.
In 1971, Milva released Milva canta Brecht, an album of music written by Bertolt Brecht and music composed by Hanns Eisler and Kurt Weill, directed by Giorgio Strehler.
In 1972, Milva appeared in the Italian film D'amore si muore, directed by Carlo Carunchio, starring in the role of Leyla.
Milva covered the title song of the movie, titled D'amore si muore, a song composed and conducted by Italian composer, conductor and orchestrator Ennio Morricone with lyrics written by Carlo Carunchio and Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, which was included in her album Dedicato a Milva da Ennio Morricone, released in the same year.
Milva then released the live album Milva in Seoul in South Korea, accompanied by the Korean Broadcasting System Symphony Orchestra.
Milva duetted with Lai on the song Oltre le colline.
In 1975, Milva released Liberta, a studio album composed of military hymns, marches and folk songs whose central themes revolve around freedom and liberty.
In 1977, Milva released the eponymously titled studio album Milva, in which she performed Andrew Lloyd Webber's Don't Cry for Me Argentina from the musical Evita, in Italian, titled Non pianger piu Argentina, which was the album's lead single.
Milva was released in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Japan.
In 1977, Milva released the studio album Auf den Flugeln bunter Traume, an album composed of popular German film and cabaret standards, including a version of Lili Marleen and Tango notturno.
In 1978, Milva began collaborating with Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, resulting in the release of the studio album Von Tag zu Tag in Germany and Austria, which became a best-selling album in Germany.
In 1979, Milva released the studio album Wenn wir uns Wiederseh'n, a German-language album that consisted of songs written by Austrian songwriter, composer and conductor Robert Stolz.
From 1973 to 1980, Milva was on tour with the band "I Milvi" with Neno Vinciguerra on piano, Franco Paganelli on guitar, Claudio Barontini on bass, Giovanni Martelli on drums and Marco Gasperetti on flute.
In 1980, Milva released the studio album, Attends, la vie, a French language album featuring songs composed by Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, whose orchestrations were arranged by Italian composer Natale Massara.
Milva had already worked with Mikis Theodorakis two years earlier, when she recorded Von Tag zu Tag and La Mia Eta.
In 1982, Milva starred in the role of Veronica in the Italian film Via degli specchi, a crime-drama film directed by Giovanna Gagliardo.
Later in the year, Milva released the German studio album Immer mehr, as well as the live double album Das Konzert.
In 1983, Milva hosted an episode of the Italian variety show Al paradise, a television series directed by Antonello Falqui.
That same year, Milva released the Italian language studio album Identikit, distributed in Italy under the Metronome label.
Milva collaborated with Vangelis for the album, covering two of his songs; To the Unknown Man, this time recorded in Italian under the title Dicono di me, as well as an Italian language version of I'll Find My Way Home.
The cast recording featured all nine movements of the musical in which Milva had starred two years earlier, in the leading roles of Anna I and Anna II.
On 29 September 1984, Milva performed with Argentine tango composer, arranger and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla and his quintet, the Quintette de tango contemporain, at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, in Paris, France.
In March 1986, Milva played the role of Renata Palozzi in the French film Mon beau-frere a tue ma soeur, a film by Jacques Rouffio which received a nomination for a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
In 1986, Milva returned to collaborating with Greek composer Vangelis, five years after her success with Ich hab' keine Angst and Moi, je n'ai pas peur.
Shortly after the release of Tra due sogni, Milva recorded a German version of the album, entitled Geheimnisse, which was released on the Metronome label.
Milva covered Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall, originally by Aphrodite's Child, in English, a track which appeared on both Italian and German versions of the album.
In 1988, Milva released the studio album Unterwegs nach Morgen, written by Tony Carey and Peter Maffay, released in Germany and Japan, on the Metronome and Seven Seas labels, respectively.
Vento di Mezzanotte appeared on the Italian album Milva, published under the Ricordi label, in the same year.
That same year, Milva returned to collaborating with composer Franco Battiato, producing a total of three studio albums containing synth-pop arrangements, in which Milva sings in Italian, Spanish, French and German.
Milva recorded the album in Spanish, with the album released as Una historia inventada, released in Spain later that year.
In December 1989, Milva participated for a second time in the Italian supergroup Musicaitalia in a fundraising project organised and spearheaded by Charles Aznavour for the benefit of those affected by the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, contributing vocals for the song Per te, Armenia, which was released as a single.
In 1990, Milva returned to the Sanremo Music Festival for the first time since 1974, this time competing with Sono felice, a song written and composed by Rosalino Cellamare, finishing in 4th place.
On 3 October 1990, Milva released the German language studio album, Ein Kommen und Gehen.
In 1993, Milva released the studio album Uomini addosso, which was released in Italy, Germany, Japan and Spain.
Milva had previously worked with James Last, who arranged a cover of Manos Haddidakis' Greek folksong The Children of Piraeus, popularly known in English as Never on Sunday, which she sang in German and was released on James Last's 1982 album Nimm mich mit, Kapt'n James, auf die Reise, under the title of Ein Schiff wird kommen.
Milva sang the second movement of Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, as well as an interpretation of Ombra mai fu, the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse, by George Frideric Handel.
Milva covered Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla's ballad, Caruso, a song dedicated to Italian tenor Enrico Caruso.
In 1995, Milva starred in the Werner Herzog television film Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices, in a film inspired by the life and music of Carlo Gesualdo, portraying the role of Maria d'Atalos, the adulterous wife murdered by Gesualdo along with her lover.
Later that year, Milva was appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.
In September 1997, Milva released the album Mia Bella Napoli, a studio album in which she interpreted covers of Napolitan folksongs in the Napolitan language.
In 1999, Milva released Stark sein, a studio album produced by Chris Flanger and Isabel Silverstone and sung in the German language.
Milva duetted with Italian singer Al Bano Carrisi, recording a new version of Io di notte, in German and in Italian under the title Zuviel nachte ohne dich, a duet of a song that both singers had individually recorded at the end of the 1960s.
In 2001, Milva released the German studio album Artisti, in which she performed songs in German, Italian, Spanish and Latin.
Milva performed Da troppo tempo, a song which she had previously recorded in Italian and competed with at the Sanremo Music Festival of 1973, finishing in 3rd place, this time in German.
In 2006, Milva was awarded the Grand Cross 1st Class of the Bundesverdienstkreuz, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the then President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Kohler, in "recognition and appreciation of her extraordinary career and artistry in Germany".
In February 2007, Milva released the single The Show Must Go On, a song written and composed by Giorgio Faletti, published in anticipation of her upcoming album.
On 2 March 2007, Milva released the studio album In territorio nemico, an Italian-language album written, composed and produced by Giorgio Faletti.
On 2 June 2007, in Rome, Milva was made Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the highest ranking honour and most senior order of the Republic of Italy, an honour bestowed upon her by the then President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, for her "intense and luminous career" during which she went from music to theatre performances, cinema, to lyric opera.
Milva was made Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic in 2009.
Milva had previously collaborated with Battiato on her 1982 Italian album Milva e dintorni, and its French-language counterpart released the same year, as well as on her 1989 album Svegliando l'amante che dorme in Germany, and Una storia inventada, its Spanish-language counterpart.
In 2011, Milva released the Italian album La Variante di Luneburg [Fabula in Musica], composed by Valter Sivilotti and written by Paolo Maurensig, in which she performed with actor Walter Mramor the songs from the musical La Variante di Luneburg.
On 2 March 2012, Milva released the German single Der Mensch, der Dich liebt, a single containing two songs composed by Sascha Merlin and Kersten Kenan.
Milva had a daughter, Martina, born during her marriage to Maurizio Corgnati in the early 1960s.
Milva dated film star Luigi Pistilli for four years; Pistilli committed suicide.
Milva participated 15 times in the annual music festival, tying the record for most participations with Al Bano, Anna Oxa, Peppino di Capri and Toto Cutugno.