ROME -- Silvana Pampanini, one of Italy's best-loved actresses and most famous national sex symbols, has died at age 90.

 Admired worldwide for her on-screen talent and striking looks, Pampanini was born in Rome Sept. 25, 1925, into a bourgeois Venetian family. From a young age she demonstrated an unusual talent for acting and singing, one which would remain with her until her death, on Wednesday.

 Encouraged by her aunt, the famous soprano Rosetta Pampanini, as a young woman Pampanini studied at the Santa Cecelia Conservatoire. In 1946, still a student, her life was to be turned around. A male singing teacher, without her knowledge, signed her up to the Miss Italia competition, which she lost to Rossana Martini. However, a public outcry at this result lead her to be named ex aequo of the competition, winning her widespread recognition and propelling her into the world of cinema.

 Pampanini started off with roles as a voice interpreter in music films, her voice used as a cover for less powerful singers in the parts, but soon grew in fame through regular appearances as a cover girl on weekly magazines. The star's large bright eyes, jet black hair, ivory skin and voluptuous breast soon made her into a national sex symbol, her long legs marking her out as a striking figure. Unashamedly proud, she once remarked: "I believe I am a rare beauty; there are no other brunettes like me, except for Ava Gardner."

 And it was not untrue. Although never entirely undressed, she would often appear scantily-clad in her films, becoming a symbol of proudly seductive femininity.

 She became a worldwide symbol of Italian beauty in the first half of the 1950's, alongside the likes of Lucia Bosè e Silvana Mangano.

 However, thanks to undeniable talent and solid training in singing and acting, she went on to appear in some of Italy's most well-known films, including Processo alla città and La Presidentessa [1952], La Bella di Roma [1955], and Gianni Francolini's Racconti romani [1955], inspired by Alberto Moravia's collection of short stories of the same name. In 1958 she took a part in Giuseppe de Santis' La strada lungo un anno [1958], which won the Golden Globe award for best foreign film.

 Pampanini also won acclaim outside of Italy, the international success O.K. Nerone [1951] earning her fame in Spain and France, where she became known as 'Niní Pampan', and even as far afield as Egypt, South America and Japan. In the same year she appeared in the Italian comedy film Bellezze in Bicicletta as an aspiring ballerina, alongside Delia Scala.

 The actress turned down many offers from Hollywood, due to her self-confessed poor command of English.

 Later in her career, in the second half of the '60s, Pampanini found a new audience in TV, leading her to film the programme Mare contro mare in 1965. She also tried her hand at directing, releasing the film Melodie a Sant'Agata in 1958.

 Despite being a very public persona, Pampanini maintained a mysterious reticence regarding her private life, particularly when it came to romance. Loved for her playful self-irony, she once confessed, "I have caused many scandals, but all of them respectable." She was known to have turned down many admirers, among the most famous being Totò, who acted alongside her in 47 morto che parla [1950]. His song Malafemmena was said to be inspired by her.

 She never married or had children, despite having had, in her own words "more suitors than headaches," but remained close to her family throughout her life. Her father, originally displeased with her choice of career, eventually gave up his own job to become her manager. Later, in her mid-60's, Pampanini too gave up full time work to look after her parents.

 In 1996 she released an autobiography entitled Scandalosamente perbene ['Shockingly respectable'], in which she told for the first time of her life's one great love, with whom she was to be married before the engagement was tragically broken off by her fiancé's illness.

 Pampanini's last TV appearance was in 2002, in Domenica In, directed by Maria Cenier. She only remained in the cast for two months.

 More recently some of Pampanini's old films have been rediscovered and made into DVDs, and in 2003 the actress was nominated for Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

 Silvana Pampanini spent her final months in hospital recovering from a complex abdominal operation. Her funeral was taking place Friday at the Santa Croce Basilica in Rome.

SILVANA PAMPANINI, born Sept. 25 1925, died Jan. 6 2016.

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