Biography
Luigi Ornaghi (9 December 1931 – 10 December 2006) was an Italian farmer and non-professional actor from Treviglio, Lombardy. He lived and worked in the fields in the hamlet of Castel Cerreto for most of his life.
Ornaghi was chosen by director Ermanno Olmi to play the lead role of Batistì in the 1978 film The Tree of Wooden Clogs, which was cast entirely with local farmers. He later made a brief appearance, again as Batistì, in Maurizio Nichetti’s Ratataplan (1979). In 1995 he reprised the role in a hardcore parody film, which drew strong criticism from Olmi.
Ornaghi continued working as a farmer until his death from a heart attack while in the fields.
