Mythological legend says that Saturn fled Olympus after being humiliated when his son found refuge in Latium, the region in which Rome was to be founded. This land of legendary founders, Romulus and Remus, has also been home of more recent times to the likes of Sophia Loren, Isabella Rossellini, Antonio Sabato Jr., Lina Cavalieri, Anna Magnani, Roberto Rossellini, Michael Collins and Marcello Mastroianni, just to name a few.

Though Sofia Villani Scicolone grew up in Pozzuoli, near Naples, she was born in Rome. As a child she was nicknamed “Toothpick” and “Stick,” but in later years she would be chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. This international star, Sophia Loren, was the first performer to win an Oscar for a performance given entirely in a foreign language (1961, Two Women). She became an immediate screen favorite that attracted the attention of American producers who starred her with major stars including Cary Grant, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Alan Ladd. In Italy, she starred in several bawdy Italian fares, often opposite Marcello Mastroianni and directed by Vittorio DeSica.

Also making People’s 50 Most Beautiful People is Antonio Sabato Jr. He “hit the jackpot” on daytime soap opera General Hospital before nabbing prime time roles, publishing a best-selling calendar and modeling in a Calvin Klein advertising campaign. He is the son of Antonio Sr., a veteran Italian actor with credits in spaghetti westerns. His mother, Yvonne, moved Sabato to Beverly Hills in 1984, where he took acting lessons to help practice his new English language.

Natalina (Lina) Cavalieri was born on Christmas Day in Viterbo, and lost her parents at the age of fifteen. She became a ward of the state and was sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage, but she decided to run away from the strict teachings of the nuns to join a touring theatrical group. Blessed with a beautiful voice, she made her way to Paris, France where her good looks and spectacular voice landed her jobs in café concerts. After taking voice lessons, she made her opera debut in Lisbon in 1900 and the New York Metropolitan Opera years later. The soprano would go on to sing with many opera greats such as Italian baritone Titta Ruffo.

No one ever forgot Anna Magnani in a movie role. Born in Rome and raised in poverty by her grandmother, she worked her way through acting school by singing in cabarets and nightclubs. She was not known as a film actress until 1941, when Vittorio DeSica directed her in Teresa Venerdi. Her breakthrough film performance was in Rossellini’s Open City. Magnani was an international star, and she won an Academy Award for Rose Tattoo. She was famous for her in-your-face, earthy, passionate roles. She and Rossellini were lovers until the director began his long running tryst with Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman.

Roberto Rossellini drifted into filmmaking in his early 30s and came to be identified with neorealist movies. His greatest achievements were Open City and Paisan, which bore the hallmarks of his reality style. His “scandalous” union with one of Hollywood’s greatest stars, Ingrid Bergman, was the rage of the tabloids and paparazzi. The pair collaborated both personally and professionally over a six-year period on seven films. He won several Cannes, Venice and New York Film Awards.

Michael Collins was one of the third groups of astronauts named by NASA. Born in Rome in October 1930, he became the pilot of the three-day Gemini X mission, which was launched on July 18, 1966. Gemini X traveled more than 1,275,000 miles, after which splashdown occurred, 529 miles east of Cape Kennedy. Gemini X landed 2.6 miles of the prime recovery ship, the USS Guadalcanal. Collins also served as command module pilot on Apollo 11 (July 16-24, 1969), the first lunar landing mission. He remained aboard the module, Columbia, in lunar orbit while Neil Armstrong, spacecraft commander, and Edwin Aldrin, pilot, descended to the moon’s surface in their lunar Eagle module.

Without a doubt, Italy’s most popular film actor was Marcello Mastroianni. He refused to work in Hollywood and was the star of five of the most significant films in Italian cinema, Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1963; Antonioni’s La Notte; Bolognini’s Il Bell’Antonio and Germi’s Divorce, Italian Style. He never sought to strengthen his appeal to U.S. audiences by going to Hollywood. As to why he achieved such popularity, he simply credited luck. He performed in the widest range of roles that any actor has ever attempted. Comedy, tragedy, farce and melodrama have meshed with his versatility. Perceived as a “Latin Lover”, he preferred to be known as a “Roman Ruin.”Mastroianni passed away in December 1996 as a victim to cancer.

Monica Vitti failed dozens of screen tests because less talented actresses had prettier faces and more vivacious figures. Early on she dubbed roles in films. In 1959 she was cast to star in Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura. The film’s success launched both hers and the director’s international careers. It also cemented a romantic alliance that endured for eight years. She went on to make three more films with Antonioni. La Notte, L’Eclisse and Red Desert. When her professional partnership with Antonioni ended, she switched to her first love -- comedy, which best suited her talents. Her first comic film, The Girl With a Pistol, was a smash hit, as was The Pizza Triangle with Mastroianni and Giancarlo Giannini.

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini was a television journalist before following in the footsteps of her famous parents, Swedish star, Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director, Roberto Rossellini. Her good looks launched her into a modeling career, where for years she was the spokeswoman and model for Lancome cosmetics. She broke into the movies in 1976 opposite her mother and Liza Minelli in A Matter of Time in 1976. Rossellini appeared in other Italian films, including Il Prato (The Meadow) and Il Pap’occhio (In the Pope’s Eyes). Many credits followed, including Fearless, Empire and The Saddest Music in the World. She’s earned an Emmy nomination for television work. She is the mother of a daughter, Elettra-Ingrid, and an adopted son, Roberto.