While Sophia Loren (90) and her mother, Romilda Villani, were looking for work in 1949 at Cinecittà, the film studios in Rome turned into a sort of Hollywood branch, the youngest of the house, Maria (86), entertained herself by making paper balls that she threw out the window.
It was a terrible time because World War II had brought hunger and misery to the most disadvantaged. In Pozuoli (Naples), the sisters ate apricot pits and removed the moist crumb from the rye bread with which they made figurines that they let dry overnight on the windowsill. The next day they would savor them.
On September 20, the star of Marriage Italian Style (1964) blew out ninety candles at a private party with 150 people at the exclusive Anantara Palazzo Naiadi hotel. There, Al Bano, Franco Nero, Laura Pausini, or Mara Venier were seen, but no sign of Maria. It is unknown if she is ill or had a prior commitment, which is unlikely as the Scicolone sisters have been inseparable all their lives.
Alessandra Mussolini and her daughters Clarissa and Caterina, the eldest and granddaughters of Maria, were present. Through their veins runs part of one of the darkest historical periods of the country, when Benito Mussolini became Hitler's friendly dictator . In March 1962, Maria married Romano, the fourth of the politician's five children.
That event was a social scandal because the wounds of the conflict were still fresh. Right after saying "I do," the disaster began. Despite having two daughters, Alessandra -former politician- and Elisabetta -notary-, Romano was not interested in the warmth of home. He preferred to go on tour as a jazz pianist and enjoy his countless lovers. To the extent that he decided to live with one of them, Clara Puccini, with whom he had a daughter, Rachel. They legally separated in 1976 when divorce was legalized.
After that failure, Maria found stability with the Iranian heart surgeon Abdoul Majid Tamiz, who passed away almost a year ago. The specialist was a loving father to Alessandra and Elisabetta.
Maria has been Sophia's shadow. When the actress had to leave home for filming, on more than one occasion her younger sister acted as a chaperone. These were strict orders from Romilda when she couldn't pack. During the filming of The Pride and the Passion (1957) in Spain, Maria was impressed by the charm and good manners of Cary Grant, who often invited them to dinner along with his wife Betsy Drake. This film was Sophia's ticket to Hollywood.
Journalist Silvana Giacobini recounts in Sophia Loren: A Life in Pictures, that Maria was captivated by the great figures. During filming, the sisters slept in the same trailer. The actress would go to bed very early, give Maria a goodnight kiss, and as soon as she fell asleep, Maria would redo her makeup to have fun in Sinatra's trailer. In Hollywood, one night at the Mocambo, the nightclub where the cream of the crop of the star system gathered, Maria jumped on stage to sing Fly Me to the Moon with Frank Sinatra. He was so impressed by the young talent that The Voice offered to pay for her rigorous training and prepare her for a debut worthy of her talent.
This experience came to nothing as the young woman returned to Italy because Romilda felt abandoned. It was a shame because since the age of five, Maria sang like an angel. She memorized the songs that American soldiers sang in the small tavern that Romilda and her parents, mamma Luisa and papà Domenico, had set up, where Maria delighted the customers with her voice while Sophia washed the dishes.
Despite everything, Maria tried to carve out a future in literature. Leveraging her last name, she published the cookbook A tavola con il Duce (At the Table with the Duce) where she revealed that the dictator loved garlic and that he even dined with Walt Disney, and the biography La mia casa è piena di specchi (My House is Full of Mirrors), adapted into a miniseries in 2010 where Loren was the narrator and portrayed her mother, Romilda.
The plot discusses Maria's stigma for not being recognized by her father, Riccardo, and her mother's shame in enrolling her in school. As an adult, the father who had abandoned them returned to ask for money. Sophia gave him two million liras, but with one condition, he had to give his last name to Maria. In 2016, she decided to retire from public life.
Celebrity news
Maria Scicolone: the discreet sister of Sophia Loren who married a Mussolini
When they got married, Romano Mussolini was unfaithful to her with countless lovers. They divorced when divorce was legalized. She dedicated herself to literature. In one of her books, she revealed that the dictator loved garlic
