Big League Talent: Going High With Valentina Nappi

This is the cover story of the January issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES—Valentina Nappi admits she loved the raw nature of gonzo filmmaking from the start. “I always thought that gonzo is the best type of porn,” Nappi says. “It’s like the purest type of porn.” It’s one reason why the former fashion design student from Italy became an admirer of Rocco Siffredi when she was doing her research on the industry in the early 2010s. Intrigued by the possibilities and never someone to wait for an opportunity to come to her, Nappi took the initiative. “I was a fan of Rocco but Rocco was also my only choice because he’s Italian,” she says with a grin. “So I sent an email to him and after I think three months, he called me.” She met the world renowned stud in 2011 at a hotel room in Rome for a 1 hour, 40-minute anal reaming that appeared in the 2012 release, Rocco’s POV 24. Siffredi owns a record eight AVN Male Foreign Performer of the Year awards and won the Male Performer of the Year trophy in 1993, the first year the award was presented. “It was the first time that I really enjoyed anal,” Nappi recalls. “I was doing it before but I guess I needed a giant penis to actually realize how much I liked anal—or maybe I just needed someone who knew how to do it.” Fourteen years and 1200-something sex scenes later, Nappi not only still enjoys professional butt stuff, she also still loves her job as much as she did during her rookie year. Now one of the most recognizable actresses in Italy, the two-time AVN Award-winner from Pompeii enters 2025 on the heels of the best all-around year of her career. She traveled the world, played herself in a mainstream movie, received the coveted Vixen Angel crown and performed in dozens of new productions in 2024. A global star who has amassed 5.5 million followers on Instagram and another 1.1M on X, the ambitious Spiegler Girl seems well on her way to a future place in the AVN Hall of Fame.  “I actually have never been as busy as this year,” Nappi says. “It’s been crazy. And the thing is I don’t want to stop shooting for others. Right now I feel the urge to do something on my own, but I have so much fun shooting for others, so I’ll have to find the solution eventually. “I’m also tired of traveling a lot. When I was in my 20s, I was really afraid to be in my 30s and now I’m 34 and I’ve never been so busy in my life and I’m not a MILF yet.” Nappi wrapped up her summer by coming to LA for two-and-a-half months for a series of shoots before heading to Paris and then to Sorrento, Italy, Budapest, Hungary, and Rome—which is about 200 miles from her residence in Paestum, the ancient city nestled in the countryside of southern Italy. But perhaps the most memorable moment of Valentina’s eventful 2024 came close to home in August, when she welcomed a seasoned creative team from Vixen Media Group to Napoli for her two-day, Vixen Angel crowning event. Nappi, who has appeared in 22 scenes for VMG’s studios since making her debut on Blacked in 2015, shined in the bespoke production that captured the essence of her city’s deep cultural heritage. Shot entirely on film, VMG set out to showcase the gritty fabric of the Campania region in a stylish photoshoot that was inspired by their legendary cigarette smugglers. The elaborate shoot sparked curiosity and excitement among the locals who went out of their way to not only watch Valentina model, but also support her in ways that only her community could. “That was probably the coolest thing we did all summer,” Mike Miller, co-owner and executive producer of Vixen Media Group, tells AVN. “Everywhere we went the people were amazing. It’s one of the coolest cities in the world for a reason. And to have the chance to go to Naples to work is a very rare thing.” Miller explains that his team first was inspired by the history of Naples and the cigarette smugglers who used boats to bring in their shipments. “Everyone in the city knows about that old-school tradition, so we had some fun with that,” Miller continues, adding that their visit did not come off without some controversy. “We ended up getting picked up by the some of the local newspapers. It had to do with a politician who kind of made a big deal about it. I don’t think they understood what we were doing. They thought we must be shooting an adult film, not realizing exactly what it was.” The first article called what VMG was doing “an abuse of property.” But the second one helped clear the air after VMG sent the outlet a press release written in Italian and they ran it word for word. Then once the teaser footage began to circulate, everyone got the idea. “It was one of the coolest things ever—the fact that they were able to come to Naples and we shot there with local people,” Nappi tells AVN. “It was really awesome because it was like two different worlds meeting. “The relationship between me and Vixen has been going on for some years, so I’m really proud and honored that they crowned me as a Vixen Angel. But to me, the best thing is that they decided to do Naples.” Nappi says the people of Naples “are pretty chill.” When she needed to change her wardrobe in the street, one of the elderly ladies who saw what was happening invited her inside. “And that doesn’t happen everywhere,” Valentina says. “So I went into her house and I changed my clothes. She even offered me coffee. She was super welcoming.” Miller says VMG left nothing to chance, hiring insiders familiar with the terrain. “To have people on the ground that know everyone on the streets is a very rare thing. It was amazing we had the opportunity to do that with Valentina,” he adds. “There is no other talent that that work would for. It was a very unique experience for everyone on the production team and for her, I think. “You can see it in the video and the photos. The people were hanging out with us, waving from the windows. It was the coolest thing that you don’t see anymore.” The VMG boss tells AVN his studio always had a strong relationship with the versatile performer. “Obviously, we had worked with her quite a few years and she had even been with us at [the AVN Expo]. We’ve always had a great relationship with Valentina,” Miller continues. “Then when we saw her [mainstream] movie we thought this is absolutely incredible. When we saw that we said we have to make her a Vixen Angel. It’s just an amazing movie. When you see her acting in this it all comes together and it just clicks. This girl is a classic Italian film star. “We said, OK we have to do something here. And I had been to Naples a few times in my life. I knew the city and I knew where we were kind of staying. I obviously didn’t know to the level that our producer introduced us to. She knew every single street, every single person, every single place. We were being plugged into a new world, and it worked with Valentina.” Nappi after the photoshoot was joined by fellow Vixen Angels Vanna Bardot, Alina Lopez, Nancy Ace, and Stefany Kyler for a trip along the Amalfi Coast that featured a scenic yacht cruise from Sorrento to Positano and dinner at the historic O’Parrucchiano La Favorita, a 19th century venue with a glass-enclosed garden of lemon trees. Radiating charisma, she received largely positive reviews for her star turn in Still Fabulous—Pensati Sexy in Italian—a romantic comedy about self-acceptance that was released on Amazon Prime in February 2024. “Basically, I’m playing myself but I’m kind of like Gemini for Pinocchio,” Nappi explains. “I’m a porn star. The protagonist of the movie, she’s watching porn fucked up on weed cake and from that point on I magically appear in her life when she needs me. But she’s the only person who sees me. “It’s a comedy about feeling comfortable in your body. It’s very commercial, very funny. It did really well in Italy.” The role amplified Nappi’s notoriety in Italy, where she has maintained a high profile for most of her adult career. And because of the movie’s success she now is fielding offers for other projects that she wasn’t able to discuss at press time. Nappi attended an art high school called Liceo Artistico in Salerno—an hour south of Naples—thinking she wanted to become a fashion designer. “But while I was learning more about that world, I was like no, I want to do porn,” she says. “It sounds way more interesting and fun and unexplored and there’s not many people that will have the same mentality that I have around sex, which is still true nowadays more than a decade later. So yeah, here I am.” She tells AVN she got into watching hentai, a genre of Japanese manga and anime characterized by sexualized characters and explicit imagery, when she was a teenager. “Because I remember in the beginning I was kind of turned off by seeing people having sex, so I started with cartoons,” Valentina explains. “And then slowly I switched into porn. “And I don’t know, to me it was just fascinating. And I come from south Italy. So people here are mostly hypocrite more than conservative. Because that’s how Catholics are. So I was raised Catholic, my mom wanted me basically a virgin at the altar—that type of culture. The ideal woman is the Virgin Mary. She give birth, but stay virgin. “So I come from that culture and I never understood all the irrationality around sex. I was like I’m a woman, why am I treated different from a man? At least in Italian culture if you have a lot of sex with different women you’re cool and you’re a stallion. But if you’re a woman, you’re a slut, you’re a whore. “And there’s so many irrational ideas about sex. So I feel like I wanted to know more. Also I had and still have a good sex drive. But I couldn’t find anyone as open-minded as me. There’s just so many reasons that I put together. I was like OK, I want to do porn.” Nappi adds, “I’m not the type of person that cares about what others think. Like for some people I know they take it hard. For them it’s hard to read comments. And I don’t know, I just don’t care.” Once Valentina decided to go for it with porn she adopted an all or nothing attitude. “I knew it was either become a big star or I will be fucked for life, especially in Italy,” she says matter of factly. “So that was my goal. “I don’t know if Spiegler still has my email but I emailed him and said I want to be a big star like Bobbi Starr and all the other girls you have. I was a fan of Belladonna, I was a fan of Sasha Grey at the time. “Belladonna is probably one of my favorite performers, ever. So yeah I was watching those girls on Evil Angel and I wanted to be like them.” Nappi already has over 80 credits for Evil Angel alone, not to mention multiple credits for every major studio in adult in the past decade. And Mark Spiegler, the veteran talent agent who has represented eight of the past 11 winners of the Female Performer of the Year award, has booked almost all of them. Spiegler tells AVN he saved Nappi’s first email to him—dated April 14, 2013—with the title “Can I get into U.S. porn?” In the email, Valentina states what she wants in no uncertain terms, not unlike how she got the attention of Rocco 14 years ago. Nappi wrote: Dear Mark Spiegler, my name is Valentina Nappi, I’m an italian porn actress. Valentina Nappi is my real name AND my stage name. I have two dreams. My first dream is to “play in the same league” of Belladonna, Bobbi Starr and all other internationally recognized porn stars. My second dream is to win that league! ;) I have already worked with Rocco Siffredi, Brazzers, Reality Kings, Harmony and other productions. I’m relatively well-known in Italy for my TV appearances and magazine/newspaper articles… The porn superagent says Nappi always has been “super bright, a little understated and a very serious” person, explaining how she was “totally ambitious from Day One.” “She had been in the business sporadically for a year or so and when you talked to her even then she was super professional and really on the ball about everything,” Spiegler says. “I’m not exaggerating, she has like a genius-level IQ.” When Nappi came to LA during the fall months of 2024, she stayed at Spiegler’s home. “And I felt like I was living with my dad,” Valentina says. “It was awesome. I felt like a teenager again. He’s our dad. He’s every girl’s dad. He’s family.” She continues, “He’s my agent, I pay him. But I don’t feel that way. And that’s his magic. Like I don’t know anybody else inside or outside the business that makes you feel that way, makes you feel like family. That’s special.” Nappi recalls after that first POV experience with Rocco how she told him she was capable of doing more. “So my first scene on set was an anal gangbang with I think nine guys,” Valentina says. "And I think he told me I wasn’t slut enough, it was funny. I was basically frozen by the fact that… if you’ve never done a gangbang it’s hard to manage mentally. Because unless you have really good nine performers that enjoy to do it or they know how to get the job done. “Unless you have the experience it’s hard to decide where to put these nine men—which order—to make the show, you know. You need to have that experience to be good at gangbangs, both for the guys who do the gangbangs and the girls receiving it. “And at the time that was just fantasy so I told Rocco I want to be fucked by a bunch of guys, but I didn’t know how to do the scene. But I still had fun.” Indeed, whether she’s sharing a cheeky video of her pumping gas in an evening gown, devouring a dessert on Instagram, playing video games on Twitch or being “raped by aliens” on Hentaied, Valentina usually is enjoying herself. She chooses to live in her native Italy for many reasons, not the least of which is how she’s treated. “Because in Italy it’s not like the United States where we have huge stars like Angela White that I feel they don’t get the recognition they deserve in mainstream media,” Valentina says. “I don’t think she’s ever been on a TV show in America. Me, I’m on TV all the time. Actually, I turn down opportunities if they don’t pay me. Here I’m more treated like a star.” Still, Nappi deals with a lot of cultural prejudices and hypocrisy due to her profession, but the tradeoff is worth it, she adds. “There’s possibilities of breaking the wall of just porn,” Valentina continues. “I love porn. Every time they propose me something, I tell them I don’t want to quit porn. “I love porn and I will keep shooting porn until I will look awful doing it. But I will still do it. But if I have the chance of doing stuff in mainstream that I like, why not?” Nappi reveals one of her biggest takeaways from the success of Still Fabulous is that "I realized how hard porn is." "What we do is way harder than mainstream," she tells AVN. “In porn we have such short time, short money to do things, while in mainstream we have all day to do like one scene.” Already a winner for AVN Best Threeway Sex Scene in 2016 and Best Trans Sex Scene in 2017, Nappi will contend for Most Outrageous Sex Scene (“Trentebeard”, Plants vs Cunts/Hentaied); Best Foursome/Orgy Scene (Climax 4, Dorcel); and Mainstream Venture of the Year (Still Fabulous/Pensati Sexy) on Jan. 25 at the 42nd annual AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas. “It’s always nice to get your work recognized,” she says. “I always love shooting. I always have fun on set. To me it’s almost…it’s work, but it’s mostly fun. "So unless I’m working with a bad crew—people that don’t want to be there or they don’t care about what they’re doing—those are my bad days. Otherwise I always have fun. Even when the guy is struggling. If I like the guy and the guy is struggling I’m still having a good day. Like he can put his floppy dick all around me and I’m still going to be happy.”