The countess of Castiglione, "Nichia", was one of the most famous beauties in the 19th century, making intimate friends of almost all the great celebrities at the time, including Napoleon III, Count Cavour, Victor Emanuel II,m Garibaldi and even Bismarck. There have been many films made on her character, almost all fictitious and venturing at large on wild fantasies and speculations in her relationships. She married at 17 with a much older man, who never cared about their son and later divorced her for her many relationships, but she was a vital acting personality in the creation of modern Italy, the "Risorgimento", because of her many influential friends and contacts in politics and was a kind of secret but leading diplomat in this great enterprise. This film concentrates on her romance with. Baldo Princivalli, another actor in the great scheme, with whom she has a great romance as a young girl, and then after nine years she is taken by surprise by his homecoming after having been lost in America. The film is a wonder of beauty all through, she was famous for her refined taste above all in costumes, and this film is a modist's paradise. The most beautiful scene occurs after one hour when they reunite, and this scene is an absolute highlight of gems concerning romantic scenes, enhanced by the music, the dancing, the exquisite intimate atmosphere and the very special circumstances - in Paris. There were many films made on her personality later on, the most famous perhaps with Yvonne de Carlo in colour 1954, but it is hard to think that this version ever could be surpassed.
