"She languished in illness for several months before dying on the day before her 37th birthday. She had appeared in over seventy films."

Lidia Gemma Mattia Quaranta was born in Turin, Italy, the older sister of twins Letizia and Isabella Quaranta. In 1914, Quantara was cast in the title role in the lavish epic silent film Cabiria, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and with author Gabriele D’Annunzio cited as a scriptwriter. The film is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War.