Lucamaleonte mural features three portraits of 'Nannarella'.

Anna Magnani, the much-loved Roman actress who died in 1973, now has a park and large-scale mural in her honour in the north-eastern outskirts of Rome.

The park in the Tiburtino III district was inaugurated by Lazio governor Nicola Zingaretti on 10 May in a project co-financed with social housing body Ater Roma.

The mural by Lucamaleonte, one of Rome's leading street artists, features three portraits of Magnani who was known for her passionate portrayals of characters, matched by her own fiery personality.

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Celebrating the various roles played by Magnani, from movies such as Roma, città Aperta, the mural was financed by the Roma Cares charitable foundation of the football team AS Roma.

This is the latest artistic collaboration between Lucamaleonte and Roma Cares which promotes activities to benefit local communities, through sport, charity, social care, education, training, culture and art.

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The Roman street artist and the charity recently worked together to produce murals for the late actor Gigi Proietti, in the Tufello district, as well as a homage in the town of Colleferro to Willy Monteiro Duarte, the young Cape Verdian-Italian man beaten to death by a gang after he intervened to help his friend.

The Anna Magnani park, located between Via della Vanga and Via Tagliacozzo, includes a playground, sporting facilities and 80 new trees.

During the inauguration, Zingaretti pointedly told the crowd that the project was completed thanks to the Lazio region, not the Comune di Roma, as the city gears up to vote for a new mayor.

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There have been several artistic tributes to Magnani in Rome in recent years, from the 'Pop Stairs' mural in Prati by Diavù to the bust in Trastevere by Gianluca Bagnani.

In 1945 Magnani was propelled into the international spotlight for her role in Roberto Rossellini's neorealist masterpiece Roma, città aperta, in which she played Pina, killed by the occupying Nazi forces as she fought to protect her husband.

She was also recognised for her powerful portrayals in movies such as Bellissima (1951) and Mamma Roma (1962). 

Magnani won an Oscar for Best Actress for her English-speaking role as a widowed mother in Daniel Mann's 1955 film The Rose Tattoo.

In 1950 Life magazine hailed Magnani as "one of the most impressive actresses since Garbo."

Born in 1908, Magnani was an iconic actress of Italian cinema as well as being - alongside Alberto Sordi and Aldo Fabrizi - one of the leading figures of 20th-century Roman cinema.