Italians bid farewell to film diva Gina Lollobrigida

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.

"La Lollo," as she was affectionately known in Italy, died aged 95 in a Rome clinic on Monday (January 18), her former lawyer, Giulia Citani said.

When she stopped making films full-time, Lollobrigida developed new careers as a photographer and sculptor and was also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).