Francesca "Fanny"Cerrito (11 May 1817 – 6 May 1909) was an Italianballet dancer andchoreographer. She was a ballerina noted for the brilliance, strength, and vivacity of her dancing. She was also one of few women in the 19th century to be recognized for her talent as a choreographer.

Fanny Cerrito
Fanny Cerrito.
Born	Francesca Cerrito (1817-05-11)11 May 1817 Naples
Died	(1909-05-06)6 May 1909 Paris
Nationality	Italian
Occupation(s)	dancer,choreographer

Born inNaples, she studied underCarlo Blasis and the French choreographersJules Perrot andArthur Saint-Léon, the latter of whom was her husband from 1845 to 1851. Fanny Cerrito was trained in the ballet school ofSan Carlo Opera House, later under the supervision ofSalvatore Taglioni. Her first stage appearance was in 1832 when she gained recognition almost immediately. In 1836–37 her fame started to spread beyond Italy and she appeared in Vienna to reveal some of her own choreographed works. From 1838 to 1840, she continued to dance withLa Scala in Milan, where she gained even more attention. In 1843, Cerrito andMaria Taglioni danced in the same program in Milan; this event caused so much excitement that the city divided itself between the two great rival ballerinas. While in Milan, Fanny began her collaboration with Jules Perrot, during which they choreographedOndine, ou La naïade (1843) as well asAlma (1842) andLalla Rookh (1846). Later in 1845, her choreographic talent became recognized after she presented her own ballet,Rosida. For nine seasons, from 1840 to 1848, Cerrito became a very well-respected dancer atHer Majesty's Theatre, London, where thecelebrity chefAlexis Soyer created a moulded dessert in her honour that was topped with a miniature figure of the dancer herself, weightlessly poised on a spun sugar zig-zag spiral.^[1]

In 1845, Cerrito danced in thePas de Quatre withMarie Taglioni,Carlotta Grisi andLucile Grahn. As the least well-known dancer, Grahn agreed to dance first, while Taglioni had been offered the privilege of dancing in coveted last position, by unanimous consent. However neither Grisi nor Grahn would agree to dance before the other. It required great diplomacy on the part ofBenjamin Lumley, the opera manager, to arrange the order of the middle two solos, and when he proclaimed that the elder of the two should go last, Cerrito was reluctant to claim her 'prize'!^[2]

Alessandra Ascarelli (1980). "CERRITO, Fanny (Francesca)".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Volume 24. Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.

• Luigi Astolfi
• Women in dance