Thanks for writing.

This is where I found the information about Alida Valli's mother:

Istria on the Net
http://www.istrianet.org/istria/illustri/valli/

"Alida Valli's ethnic background is mixed on both sides which is rather typical for many Istrians. Her mother, Silvia Obrekar, a housekeeper, was born in Pola from a father from Liubliana and mother, Virginia della Martina, originating from Pola. Alida's father, Baron Gino Altenburger, was born in Trento, Italy. His mother (b. Tomasi) was a native of Rovereto and his father was Austrian [from where?]. Gino studied philosophy in Vienna and from there went on to teach in Pola at the Giosuè Carducci Gymnasium. He was also a music critic on the magazine Corriere Istriano."

Of course, just because Valli's grandfather was born in Slovenia doesn't per se mean that he had Slovenian blood. Oberecker certainly sounds like a German name. I'll rephrase the text.

Thanks again.

And by the way, I was truly impressed with your Alida Valli website.

you wrote about alida valli:

" her mother was a housewife of mixed Slovenian-Italian parentage."

Please recheck beacuse her mother was a piano teacher (actually she studied in Laibach conservatory to become a pianist) and she was not of slovenian – italian descant but of german – italian. Her name is Silvia Oberecker (Obrekar in ladino dialect) and her mother is Virginia della Martina from Pola-Istria.

Thank you
Kind regards

Michael Plass
http://www.alidavalli.net