Luz del Fuego
Luz del Fuego was the stage name of Dora Vivacqua (February 21, 1917 – July 19, 1967). She was a Brazilian feminist, dancer, naturist, and actress who became famous for performing nude with live snakes. She often wrapped pythons around her body and challenged social norms about nudity.
Dora was born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espírito Santo, the fifteenth child of Italian immigrants Etelvina and Antonio Vivacqua, and sister of Senator Attilio Vivacqua. After her father was murdered in 1932, she faced hardship, including a difficult period in a hospital in 1936.
She later adopted the stage name Luz Divina and, in 1947, Luz del Fuego. She worked as a dancer and appeared in several films from the 1940s to the 1950s. On Ilha do Sol, she founded Brazil’s first naturist club, the Brazilian Naturist Club. In the early 1950s, she started the Brazilian Naturist Party and ran for Congress, but lost after her brother Attílio blocked the party’s official establishment.
Her film appearances included Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956) and other works, with a final uncredited role in Tarzan and the Great River (1967). She was murdered that year by a fisherman she had threatened to report for overfishing.
Her life inspired a 1982 film, Luz del Fuego. A lost documentary, A Nativa Solitária, was found in 2013. Because of her courage to face prejudice and for founding Brazil’s first naturist club, her birthday, February 21, is remembered as the Day of Naturism in Brazil.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:23 (CET).