‘White Lotus’ Star Sabrina Impacciatore Dazzles at Winter Olympics

Sabrina Impacciatore, known to U.S. audiences for roles in “The White Lotus” and “The Paper,” performed a time-traveling musical number celebrating 100 years of Winter Olympics history featuring lots of on-stage costumes, including a fabulous vintage ski outfit designed by Emilio Pucci for jet-setting Princess Soraya of Iran who wore it in Cortina where Italy’s first Winter games were held in 1956.

That year no artificial snow was used in Cortina. But in today’s global warming world there are plans for snow cannons to spew nearly 2.4 million cubic meters (3.1 million cubic yards) of fine-grained flakes. Organizers are vowing to use entirely renewable energy to power the cannons which should guarantee sufficient cover for the 116 Olympic medal events scheduled over 17 days.

Impacciatore’s live stage performance featured scenes spanning from the 1920s to the 1990s, and into the present day, with a musical selection featuring jazz and swing music, and iconic Italian singer Adriano Celentano’s hit song “Prisencolinensinainciusol,” considered the first Italian rap song ever written. The song’s improvised text in an invented language that phonetically mimics English.

“Prisencolinensinainciusol,” which is said by Celentano to stand for universal love, features in Spike Lee’s film “Highest 2 Lowest” recorded by Aiyana-Lee with the title “Prisencolin (Americano Joint).”

Impacciatore, who played Valentina, the hotel manager in the Sicily-set second season of “White Lotus,” was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the hit HBO show which also gave her local career a nice boost.