Amalia Ferraris

After studying in Turin, she attended the ballet school at La Scala Academy, under the direction of the Carlo Blasis;[2] she debuted in Milan.

[1] Together with Carolina Rosati, her artistic rival, Ferraris was one of the most notable Italian dancers of her era.

In 1857, she performed with Rosati at the Paris Opera in the ballet Marco Spada, ou La Fille du Bandit; it was said to have been commissioned by Napoleon III for Ferraris and Rosati, who was considered to be the most celebrated ballerinas at the time.

[3] Along with Rosati, Giuseppina Bozzacchi, and Fanny Cerrito, Ferraris was considered an Italian virtuosity, known for "bravura displays of technique".

It was for Ferraris that the choreographer Marius Petipa created the Carnaval In Venice pas de deux to music by Cesare Pugni, which the composer based on Niccolò Paganini's Il Carnevale di Venezia as an ode to the Italian ballerina.