Pass notes

Appearance: 'Opulent, carnal, bewitching, earthy, vital, vibrant, elegant, imperial, an ambassadress of Italian glamour to the world,' according to Il Messaggero.

Couldn't we just dispense with the witticisms today and make the picture a lot bigger? Don't be so male. There's more to La Lollo than decolletage.

You mean those evocatively titled films - Go Naked in the World, Solomon and Sheba, Beautiful but Dangerous... Stop indulging yourself. Ms Lollobrigida has set her sights on the European Parliament, as a candidate for new commission president Romano Prodi's centrist Democrats.

Interesting move for a woman whose name was sequinned across hotpants in the 1960s. Spurred into action by the corruption scandals? Probably not. She confesses: 'I had no idea any of that had happened. I've been very busy with my sculpture recently.' So how does she hope to win? 'I'm a symbol of Italy,' she says.

'I'm the mother of Italy. I'll be the most famous candidate standing.' Surely she won't be the most famous MEP. Isn't there that Greek singer, Nana Mouskouri? Ms Lollobrigida still has the edge.

Not if they can't fit the name on the ballot papers. There are ways around that. La Lollo alludes to the sex symbol days, although the association with lollo rosso (an unpleasant lettuce, allegedly named to honour Gina's frothy underwear) doesn't suit the politician image. Neither does the French meaning of Lollobrigida: a slang term for 'a landscape with a lot of hills'.

We keep coming back to that decolletage; surely she must have some political credentials. She did the goodwill ambassador act long before Geri Halliwell invested in her first serious suit. And a stint with Mother Teresa.

Can that famous wiggle woo the female vote? Tony Blair, she ain't. Her name has popped up on the odd divorce paper. There's no love lost between her and Sophia Loren.

Don't mention: The bus pass.

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