Carmella Cammeniti (also Silvani and Sister Mary Catherine) is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Natalie Blair.

[1] She gradually became "tortured [and] depressive",[2] with storylines which saw her attract the attention of a stalker, become a nun, suffer facial scarring, develop an addiction to prescription medication and lose her husband after a bushfire.

She had long-standing relationships with Marco Silvani (Jesse Rosenfeld) and Oliver Barnes (David Hoflin), the father of her daughter, Chloe (Sarah May).

When Blair resigned from the serial in 2008 in order to pursue new projects, the producers arranged for a separated Carmella and Oliver to reunite.

She becomes romantically involved with her colleague, Connor O'Neill (Patrick Harvey), to the disapproval of her father Rocco (Robert Forza).

A feud with Connor's ex-girlfriend, Michelle Scully (Kate Keltie), results in Carmella slapping her and leaving the area.

Carmella then tries a different approach; she borrows money from her mother Lucia (Maria Mercedes) to pay for an operation Madeleine needs, then blackmails Connor into spending time with her.

During her time as a nun, she grows close to Ned Parker (Daniel O'Connor), who encourages her to become a recording artist after hearing her sing.

Teresa has a breakdown and throws a saucepan of boiling water at Carmella, who is left with severe facial scarring and becomes increasingly secluded.

Carmella gives birth prematurely by Caesarean section; the condition of her daughter, Chloe (Sarah May), who is placed in the neonatal intensive-care unit, quickly improves.

Mother and daughter move in with Marco, prompting a jealous Oliver to file for sole custody of Chloe, though he later rescinds this decision.

They briefly return to Erinsborough when Oliver's mother Rebecca (Jane Hall) breaks up with her husband Paul (Stefan Dennis), to convince her to come and live with them and she does so.

[4] Three months' worth of scripts were rewritten, and Carmella was introduced to fill the void left by Goodrem's character, Nina Tucker.

[4] As a school graduate,[5] Blair had unsuccessfully auditioned for another role in the serial, but impressed casting director Jan Russ.

[10] However, Carmella became depressed through her life's travails, having been stalked by Frank Romano, sold her cousin Teresa's baby and subsequently become a nun.

[15] Discussing the state of her relationship with Oliver and Marco at this point, Blair assessed: "I don't think it's so much of a love triangle anymore.

Describing the filming process, Blair stated: "Shooting the scenes for the bush fire and everything surrounding it - the wedding - the funeral - was so draining.

A spokesperson for the programme's broadcaster, Network Ten, stated: "Obviously, we've loved having Natalie on the show all these years and we're really sad to see her go [...] and hope to see her on Ramsay Street again one day in the future.

Producers had planned to reunite Carmella and Oliver and have them leave together,[16] however Hoflin decided to go travelling, meaning he was unavailable for filming.

"[16] Carmella's "happy exit storyline" saw her leaving in a taxi surrounded by all of her friends waving her off, after they convinced her to start a new life with Oliver.

[21] In September 2010, it was revealed that Blair and Hoflin would return to film scenes in the last two weeks of production in 2010, and the episodes would be shown in early 2011.

[23] Blair felt it fitting because both Carmella and Oliver have history with Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) and want to "protect Rebecca and watch out for her best interests".

[23] In his book Super Aussie Soaps, Andrew Mercado brands Carmella, the mobster's daughter, as "the mafia princess".

[25][26] By the time Blair was made an official cast member, The Courier-Mail declared that Carmella was a Ramsay Street favourite.

[30] At the following year's Inside Soap Awards, she was nominated in the "Best Storyline" category for her custody battle over Chloe with Oliver, as well as "Sexiest Female" again.

[31] Scott Ellis of the Sydney Morning Herald's television magazine stated that, even compared to the slightly surreal standards of most soap operas, Carmella has "been through a wringer".

[10] He made a point of the many storylines that transformed the character: "A former party girl turned nun, Carmella has been stalked, slapped, scalded, scarred and even sold a baby.

"[10] In the same vein, The Daily Telegraph praised Carmella's versatility in going from "baby peddler to nun, before suffering severe facial burns that required re-constructive surgery.

[16] What's on TV deemed Carmella's scalding with boiling water her most explosive scene,[20] and the Daily Record called it karma for selling Teresa's baby.