Maria Ilva Biolcati Commander OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [maˈriːa ilˈva bjolˈkaːti]; born July 17, 1939), known as Milva, is an Italian singer, stage, and film actress and television personality. She is also known as 'La Rossa', (Italian for 'The Red'), due to the colour of her hair, and additionally as the 'Panther of Goro', which stems from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female singers of the 1960s, combining the names of animals and the singers' birth places. Popular in Italy and abroad, she has triumphed on musical and theatrical stages the world over, and has received popular acclaim in her native Italy, and particularly in Germany where she has often participated in musical events and televised musical programmes. She has also released numerous successful albums in France, Japan, Korea, Greece, Spain and South America.

Having received enormous success both in Italy and internationally, she remains to this day one of the most popular Italian personalities in the fields of music and theatre. Her artistic stature has been officially recognised by the Italian, German and French republics, each of which have bestowed her with the highest honours. She is the only Italian artist in contemporary times, in fact, who is simultaneously: Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (Paris, 11 September 2009), Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Rome, 2 June 2007), Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Berlin, 2006 and Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Paris, 1995).