FLORENCE, ITALY – It’s a big year for the Italian icon Sophia Loren. She has been awarded at the David di Donatello awards, Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars, and in Florence the opening of the restaurant Sophia Loren Original Italian Food is a great success.
Sophia Loren won the best actress prize on Tuesday at the David di Donatello awards.The 86-year-old triumphed for her performance as a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor who takes in a troubled migrant boy in The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Sé) , which was directed by her son Edoardo Ponti.
“I won another David (award) 60 years ago and , despite everything, it seems like the first time,” a clearly moved Loren said.”The excitement and the joy are the same. It may be my last film, although I’m still hungry for another. I cannot live without cinema”.
The Sophia Loren restaurant has only been open for two weeks in Florence but it is becoming very popular.The two floor restaurant is located between via Brunelleschi and piazza della Repubblica, in the heart of the historic center of the Tuscan capital, very close to the Duomo. It will be the first of five venues in Italy dedicated to Sofia Loren, with the idea of exporting the Sophia Loren Original Italian Food brand to the world.
The structure will offer a service starting from breakfast with a corner dedicated to coffee – Neapolitan coffee – and traditional sweets of the Campania region (including sfogliatella riccia, frolla and even the pastiera). During the aperitif time, a second corner will open with a mosaic dedicated to the actress, symbol of Made in Italy, with bottles and stills useful for extracting essences from medicinal plants.
