STORY: After a humble upbringing, Lollobrigida played opposite Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Frank Sinatra, becoming one of the most recognizable cinema icons of the 1950s and 60s.

But she never clicked with the Hollywood studio system and her best-known films remain those she made with Italian directors before and after her American parenthesis.

The actress who came to represent Italy's vibrant rebirth after World War Two, has died aged 95.