Playboy Gallery
August, 1997
Growing up in the war-ravaged town of Pozzuoli, Italy, Sophia Loren was teased for her scrawniness and called Sofia Stuzzicadenti (Sofia the toothpick). Happily, she was a great late bloomer whose bountiful curves and startling sensuality made her a screen legend. In 1957, just as Sophia surpassed Gina Lollobrigida as America's favorite Italian sex symbol, Playboy ran this photo from an early Loren film called Era Lui, Si, Si. The photo and Sophia remain classics.
