On September 20, 1934, at Rome's Clinica Regina Margherita, Romilda Villani welcomed her daughter Sofia Scicolone into the world. Fourteen years later, Sofia would dominate beauty pageants, and begin working toward her dream of becoming an actress. She would eventually change the spelling of her name to Sophia, and experiment with the last name Lazzaro before settling on Loren. She would go on to accept acting awards from all over the globe, and become the first and only woman to win a Best Actress for a foreign film at the Oscars in America. But on this day, in the hospital's charity ward for unmarried women, Sophia was just another child born into poverty.
Sadly, Sophia's father, Riccardo Scicolone, repeatedly refused to marry Romilda. However, he did sign an affidavit that confirmed his relationship to Sophia and gave her his last name. As a single mother, Romilda struggled to support her daughter.
