Q 01/05

Sophia Loren was born with which surname, that of the father who refused to marry her mother?

A) Scicolone

B) Villani

C) Lazzaro

D) Lombardo

Answer · why

A) Scicolone

Scicolone. Riccardo Scicolone gave Sofia his name but never married her mother, Romilda Villani; once Loren was earning, she paid him so that her sist...

Q 02/05

In which town near Naples did the young Loren live with her mother, sister and grandmother?

A) Sorrento

B) Pozzuoli

C) Caserta

D) Amalfi

Answer · why

B) Pozzuoli

Pozzuoli. Loren was actually born in a Rome clinic, but her unmarried mother soon took her home to this port town, whose munitions plant made it a tar...

Q 03/05

What was Loren's mother Romilda's profession?

A) Opera singer

B) Schoolteacher

C) Seamstress

D) Piano teacher

Answer · why

D) Piano teacher

Piano teacher. Romilda's lessons paid for Sofia's acting school; at 17 she had won an MGM Greta Garbo lookalike contest, but her parents refused to le...

Q 04/05

How was the young Sofia wounded during an Allied bombing raid in the Second World War?

A) Shrapnel struck her chin

B) She was deafened in one ear

C) A wall collapsed on her leg

D) Her arm was burned

Answer · why

A) Shrapnel struck her chin

Shrapnel struck her chin as she ran for the railway tunnel her family used as a shelter. Months later an American soldier noticed the scar and took he...

Q 05/05

What did Loren's grandmother Luisa open in the family living room when American troops arrived?

A) A dressmaking workshop

B) A pub selling cherry liquor

C) A pizzeria and bakery

D) A hairdressing salon

Answer · why

B) A pub selling cherry liquor

A pub selling cherry liquor. On Sunday afternoons Luisa served the GIs a home-made brandy of black-market alcohol and cherry Strega, while Sofia's mot...