Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone

Apollonia Corleone
First appearance	The Godfather
Last appearance	The Godfather
Created by	Mario Puzo
Portrayed by	Simonetta Stefanelli
Information
Gender	Female
Family	Corleone family, Vitelli family
Spouse(s)	Michael Corleone
Relatives	Sig. Vitelli (father)

Apollonia Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. She is portrayed by Simonetta Stefanelli in Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation.

In the novel

Apollonia, a very pretty Sicilian woman, meets Michael Corleone shortly after he arrives in Sicily. A humorous scene ensues when Michael and his bodyguards inquire of Signore Vitelli, a local tavern keeper, if he can identify the beautiful woman Michael is in love with, describing her as a woman of Greek features and wearing a purple dress and pink hair bow. Vitelli angrily says he does not know her, then leaves their table suddenly frustrated and outraged. Michael's bodyguards realize that the girl is Signore Vitelli's own daughter and attempt to flee, but Michael, speaking through his trusted bodyguard and interpreter Fabrizio, gains Signore Vitelli's respect by introducing himself (revealing his concealed true identity) and apologizing for any offense he delivered. He then asks and receives Signore Vitelli's permission to court Apollonia under the Chaperone of her family.

After a brief courtship, they are married; but Apollonia is later killed by a car bomb intended for her husband. The attack was set up by Fabrizio, who had betrayed Michael to Corleone family enemies back in New York. In the book, she is pregnant at the time of her death. The explosion is powerful enough to throw Michael off his feet.

As a result of the explosion that killed Apollonia, Michael is knocked unconscious. Don Tommasino, a Sicilian Don who is a long and trusted friend of Michael's father, moves Michael to a hospital. Michael regains consciousness a few days later, whereupon Don Tommasino informs Michael that he has been assumed to have also been killed in the blast that killed Apollonia and Calo, Michael's other bodyguard. As a result, there is apparently no further relationship or contact between Michael and his former in-laws in Sicily.

After his recovery from injuries suffered in the blast, Michael returns to the United States and marries his previous girlfriend, Kay Adams. She is unaware that he had been married, while he was living in Sicily; but she does mention the marriage in The Godfather III when she and Michael travel around Sicily together. Michael is very protective towards his daughter Mary because of his first marriage. He reveals to her that she bears a resemblance to Apollonia, but ironically states that he has not even revealed his first marriage to Kay, Mary's mother.

Michael's revenge

In the novel, Michael avenges Apollonia Corleone's death. Fabrizio is found running a pizza parlor in Buffalo, New York. He is shot in the chest by an assassin who walks into the pizza parlor. The assassin then tells him "Michael Corleone sends his regards", before shooting him again in the head. In a deleted scene from the film's script, Michael kills Fabrizio with a shotgun. This scene was never released, although publicity photos were distributed of Al Pacino, who portrayed Michael, firing a shotgun.)

A scene was then filmed in which Michael is informed that Fabrizio was found and was successfully killed in his car with a bomb wired to the ignition, matching the car bomb that he used to kill Apollonia. The scene was removed from the final cut of the film, but it can be seen in The Godfather Saga.