Raised in a family who owned the circus company Circus Orfei, Moira Orfei is the symbol of circus in Italy and attained international fame. The Circus Moira Orfei itself was founded in 1960. Moira has been photographed in various scenes as a rider, trapeze artist, acrobat, elephant-tamer. Moira's excessively garish image mirrors her eccentric and exuberant personality. Moira's face became an effigy of unchanging characteristics: heavy make-up with eyes coated with eyeliner, bright lipstick, a huge chignon. Promotional billboards where carpeted with this picture in every city that the circus stopped. As a result, Moira has become one of the most recognized faces in Italy. Almost by chance, Moira also became a film actress, acting in over forty films. Her husband Walter Nones is tiger-tamer. They lived in a huge caravan furnished as a luxury apartment. Cottinelli photographed her and her husband in Genova during a Circus Orfei performance in 2001.