Silvia Balletti

She was the star of the Italian theatre in Paris and regarded as a superior interpreter of the plays by Pierre de Marivaux.

Silvia Balletti was born to the Italian actors Giuseppe Tortoriti (Pascariello), Antonio Benozzi and Clara Mascara, who belonged to a Venetian theatre company active in Toulouse since the banishment of the Comédie Italienne from Paris in 1697.

[citation needed] In 1720, she began a long co-operation with Pierre de Marivaux, who wrote numerous plays for her in which she celebrated triumphs on stage.

Among her celebrated parts were the main parts i Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard (1730), L'amante difficile (1731), Le Je ne sais quoi (1731), L'École des mères (1732), Arlequin apprenti philosophe (1733).

[citation needed] In 1750, she met Casanova, who was the friend of her son Antonio Stefano Balletti and courted her daughter Manon.