Antonella Ferrero was an Italian slalom skater who won the Italian championship in 1980. She competed in the Junior division and either matched or surpassed Giammarco Luca, who became a legendary Italian skater in the 1990s, since they were the same age. There’s also a clipped photo featuring Antonella on the cover of a slalom skateboarding magazine called “International Skating.”
By 1988, Antonella was declared the Women’s European Slalom Pro Champion according to a forum post on the International Slalom Skateboarding Association, although I’m not sure which contest or where? Based on her matching shirt, socks, and shoes in the two photos from 1988, I’ll guess that she was sponsored by Converse.
Her brother, Gianluca was also a competitive skateboarder, winning the Italian Cup in slalom in 1980. There are photos of him online skating vert and performing freestyle, so I’m going to assume that anything Gianluca did, Antonella did as well. There is at least one photo of her from a scanned album that shows her riding ramp!
There’s also some strange photos and footage of an Italian TV show called Striscia La Notizia (definitely in the late 1980s!) where Antonella plays the role of “Velina,” cruising on her skateboard, while the host is fawned over by models. Apparently it is a very popular show in Italy, but I have no words! Wikipedia says it was meant to be a parody of the daily news but just looks a bit tacky to me. Hope you survived the ordeal Antonella!
References:
- Forum posts – International Skateboard Association via Vlad Popov (Oct. 22, 2003) and Gianluca Ferrero (Dec. 29, 2003).
Womxn Skateboard History 