Introduction

Since we’ve more or less exhausted all topics related to the History of busty women in the English-speaking world, I felt this was as good a time as any to turn our attention to Continental Europe- and, specifically, Italy.

Now, it’s no secret that we owe some of the best movies ever made to Italian directors- Coppola’s “The Godfather” trilogy and Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” movies being some obvious examples. Less talked about nowadays, however, are the sexy actresses who became sex symbols throughout the second half of the XXth century.

Admittedly, some of these women are not very busty by our standards, but they certainly owed their fame almost as much to their breasts as to their acting prowess.

Commedia sexy all’italiana and gialli

To understand why busty actresses fit Italian cinema as well as they did, it is necessary to discuss two important film genres of the second half of the XXth century: commedia sexy all’ italiana and gialli.

Inspired by neorealism, Italian comedies directed between the 50s and the 70s often focused on social issues of the time, including sexual taboos. Erotic comedies were made to mock Italian prudism and thus unapologetically featured attractive women in the nude. They were also a celebration of the fact nudity was no longer illegal in Italian cinema. Though these movies were usually panned by critics, they did launch the careers of many actresses.

As for gialli, the term means “yellow” and originally referred to police novels with yellow covers that were popular during the early XXth century. Giallo movies are erotic thrillers mostly made during the early 70s, though the genre never died completely. More often than not, these movies featured women stripping right before being killed by glove-wearing maniacs. The best-known directors of these films are Mario Bava, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci.

Incidentally, though international audiences understand a giallo as being an Italian thriller with a particular style, Italians themselves may refer to any mystery movie as a “giallo”, regardless of style, age or nationality.

Famous Italian sex symbols

Sophia Loren

The name of Sophia Loren needs no introduction. The actress started her career in small uncredited roles in 1950 and became a star after playing the lead role in a segment from Vittorio de Sica’s anthology film “The Gold of Naples”.

In 1951, she was asked to pose topless for the French version of a comedy called “Era lui…si,si”, though apparently only a few stills survive. In 1954’s “Two Nights with Cleopatra”, she showed her breasts briefly while taking a bath. Afterwards, as her fame grew, she ceased to get explicitly naked on camera, though she did appear in a see-through shirt in “Madame Sans-Gene”, performed an interrupted striptease in De Sica’s “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” and wore sheer lingerie in “Marriage Italian Style”.

In spite of her scarce nude scenes, Sophia was one of the very first true Italian sex symbols, known both for her acting talent and for her nice bosom.

Gina Lollobrigida

The other major sex symbol of the 50s besides Sophia (there were even rumors of a rivalry between the two), Gina also had a prolific career in cinema and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world”. After being persuaded by Howard Hughes (yes, the guy who shot a movie just for the sake of Jane Russell’s boobs) to go to Hollywood, she worked with many famous actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Sean Connery and Burt Lancaster.

Gina did a few sexy scenes in “Les Belles de Nuit”, “Solomon and Sheba”, and “Un Bellissimo Novembre” but the only time she bared her breasts was for a photo that was published in 1948 in a magazine called “Modern Sunbathing and Hygiene Annual”.

Edwige Fenech

According to Mr. Skin, the actress with the most nude roles (53) is Monica Bellucci. However, I’m pretty sure Edwige has her beat with around 60.

Hailed as the queen of both gialli and sexy comedies, Fenech boasts a very large filmography, especially from the late 60s to the late 80s. During those two decades, one would be hard-pressed to find a movie she was in where she didn’t appear topless or completely naked.

Though Edwige’s willingness to expose herself dozens of times on camera is impressive in and of itself, she was also a very talented, versatile and charming actress who won the hearts of many men both past and present. Among her biggest fans is Quentin Tarantino, who named a character in his film “Inglorious Basterds” after her and invited her to attend the premiere.

If you want to see her best films, I’d recommend the gialli directed by her former husband Sergio Martino, especially “All the Colors of the Dark”. On the other hand, if you just want to see her stark naked, watch Fulci’s comedy “La Pretora”.

Roberta Pedon

Though Roberta lacked the mainstream celebrity status of Sophia, Gina and even Edwige, her figure was so unbelievable that her own mother supposedly called her a “freak”. Had she been born much later and currently active, she would probably have proven a challenge to Tessa and Laurine in the MBR contest.

Roberta starred in only one movie, “Delinquent School Girls”, and even though she has a topless scene, her promo photoshoot alongside Rosalie Strauss and Nika Movenka is much hotter.

The reason I didn’t pick her for my MBR of the 70s was because, according to “The Bigger Book of Breasts”, Roberta used the money she earned from modelling to pay for a reduction in LA. She apparently moved back to Italy afterwards.

In spite of this most inglorious end to her career, she’s still one of the most popular vintage models, along with Virginia Bell and Uschi Digard.

Donatella Damiani

Donatella’s best-known role was in a movie by Fellini called “City of Women”, but apart from that, she was only in a handful of mediocre films during the 70s and 80s. Nevertheless, she was considered a sex symbol of her time and posed for several men’s magazines, including Playboy and Playmen.

Her boobs looked great in “Liebes Lager” and “How to Seduce your Teacher”.

Serena Grandi

Like Edwige, Serena was famous for her “grandi” boobs and appeared mainly in comedies and gialli. However, she sadly never got to work with talented directors like Fulci and Argento. Thus, while she got topless for quite a few roles, none of her films stands out for its quality.

Her best-know movie is probably Lamberto Bava’s giallo “Delirium”, which shows both her and Sabrina Salerno topless.

Sabrina Salerno

Who doesn’t know Sabrina, at least from her music video “Boys”?

Aside from her music career, Sabrina appeared in a few comedies during the 80s and got topless for several photoshoots during the 90s as well.

If you still can’t get enough of her boobs, there are quite a few recent photos on her instagram of her wearing skimpy bikinis and see-through tops while braless. It’s more revealing than some girls’ OF accounts and it’s free.

Debora Caprioglio

With a lovely face and gorgeous breasts, it’s easy to see why Debora became a sex symbol of the early 90s.

Like Serena, she was born too late to experience the heyday of Italian horror and exploitation. However, she did star in “Paganini”, the only film directed by the psychotic but excellent actor Klaus Kinski (apparently, they even dated for a while).

I’d recommend “Spiando Marina” to get a good look at her boobs.

Honorable Mentions

Sabrina Ferilli- “Americano Rosso” and “Die Falle”.

Valentina Reggio- “Io che amo solo te”

Scilla Gabel- Nude Photoshoots

Giula de Gresy and Anna Galiena- “Senso ’45”

Maria Teresa Tofano- “The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave”

Rosita Torosh- “Flesh for Frankenstein”

Cintia Lodetti- “Contraband”

Maria Pia Parisi- “The Seduction of Angela”

Angela Cavagna and Cinzia Roccaforte- “Keys in Hand”

Maria P. Arpa- “Attenti…arrivano le collegiali!”

Patrizia Webley- “Malabimba: The Malicious Whore” and several others.

And, of course, Monica Bellucci, in about 90% of her movies, including “Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra” which was (in theory) a family film.