Elena Greco

* Teenager
* Younger

Grandson (from Elsa)

**Elena "Lenù" Greco** is one of the main characters in the Italian television series *My Brilliant Friend*. She is a girl from a poor family in 1950s Naples.

Elena is portrayed primarily by Elisa Del Genio as a child and Margherita Mazzucco as a teenage girl. She was also portrayed by Elisabetta De Palo as an elderly woman, Ingrid Del Genio as a very young child, and Alba Rohrwacher, who narrates the series from her point of view as an adult.

## Biography

*Elena is the protagonist in the My Brilliant Friend franchise. She’s a hardworking, kind and quiet girl.*

*After finding out about the disappearance of Lila, Elena starts writing down the story Lila tries so hard to forget. Before writing, she sees the young Lila sitting in the room, surrounded by the darkness and shadows of the room. By typing, she forced young Lila to leave her.*

**Episode 1**

The story starts in a classroom, in which only small girls are seen with Maestra Oliviero. Elena was praised for her neat results when Lila threw a paper ball, yelling her name. However, Elena was impressed by the bad behaviour Lila acted upon in the teacher's presence.

Maestra Oliviero invited Lila's mother to class. The Maestra realized that Lila could already write and read in first grade. So she asked Nunzia Cerullo, who taught the little girl. The mother replied that no one taught Lila to write or read. Lila finally admitted that she had taught herself. It seems that Elena was a little bummed out. Perhaps because she was not the smartest of the class anymore in everyone's eyes.

Elena is seen being friends with other girls. She had never talked to Lila. However, they were continuously competing with each other. Finally, she admitted feeling this unusual attraction to the girl.

Elena arrived home and discovered that Melina Cappuccio's husband had passed away. She went up and saw different neighbours paying their respects. However, she also noticed the strange behaviour of Donato Sarratore and Mirella. This behaviour stopped when Donato's wife arrived with the children. Elena is seen staring at Nino, the son of Donato and Lidia Sarratore. He was a few years older than her, and she found him very handsome. After leaving the house, Lila cornered Elena, who told her that Don Achille had led the man to his death. Elena ran away to her own home in the building.

In the yard, Elena hears all neighbours gossiping about the generosity of Donato towards Mirella. Lila wanted to show something to Elena, who followed her. She showed her a sharp object, admitting that she found it on the street. Lila was able to glide the needle under the first layer of her skin without showing pain. Lila then dared Elena to do it, who refused. Hearing the screams and shouts, both ran curiously into Elena's building, where they found Lidia and Mirella fighting about Donato. Elena fainted when Mirella fell off the staircase. Waking up, she sees a bruised Mirella sitting on the stairs. Her mother ushered her towards their own home.

Maestra Oliviero and Maestro Ferraro wanted to hold a contest between the boys and girls at school. According to them, it was a way to see how prepared the classes were. The girls had to compete with the boys of the fifth grade. Maestra Oliviero chose Elena and Lila to actively represent the first grade. During the contest, Lila detained herself tremendously as they were up against Carracci and Nino Sarratore. Unfortunately, the competition was cut short as Enzo Scanno, the fruit seller, got caught up in a fight with another boy. After school, Elena sees that Lila and Enzo are fighting with stones. She tries to help Lila by giving her a stone. However, Lila ended up hurt on the ground. Enzo feels bad. Lila doesn't thank Elena and walks away.

Arriving at the building of her home, Elena met Nino at the staircase. He admitted that when growing up, he would like to marry her. Elena refused in shock but was very happy with this proposal.

Again, Lila was being attacked. This time it was by Stefano Carracci. During the contest, he disliked that Lila "embarrassed" Alfonso, his younger brother. So he pushes Elena to the ground and tries to force Lila to apologize to Alfonso. She refused, and he left soon after. Elena and Lila sat down and played with each other dolls. Lila threw Elena's doll in the gutter. Taking revenge, Elena did the same to Lila's doll. They couldn't find the dolls. Lila was convinced that Don Achille Carracci had their dolls. At the end of the episode, Elena and Lila watched sadly at the Sarratore family leaving while Mirella was throwing away the cooking utilities out of the balcony. They went to Don Achille's home in an attempt to recuperate their dolls.

**Episode 2**

Coming soon...

## Appearances

*Elena Greco appeared in every episode so far.*