Italian screen legend Gina Lollobrigida has said she is running in next month’s general election because she is “fed up with bickering politicians”.
Lollobrigida, who turned 95 in July, is aspiring to become a senator from the Sovereign and People’s Italy Party (ISP), a new Eurosceptic political alliance opposed to Mario Draghi, opposed to arms sales to Ukraine and “warmongering Atlantic”.
She told Corriere della Sera that she was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi for his “way of doing things, for his non-violence” and that she was a “great friend” of India’s first female Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “I saw her every time she came to Rome. She was an extraordinary woman.”
Lollobrigida was among the most glamorous actors of Hollywood’s golden age, known for films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Solomon and Sheba. She said last month she was “determined to stay creative” and now wants to put some of that energy “on important things, especially for my country.”
The last time Lollobrigida tried to get into politics was in 1999, when she ran in the European Parliament elections as a candidate for Romano Prodi’s Democrats. In January this year, Italy’s Supreme Court said she needed a legal guardian to prevent people from plundering her wealth.
Symbols of 101 political parties, movements and lists were submitted to Italy’s Interior Ministry for approval on the Sunday before the September 25 election.
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The Brothers of Italy, the far-right party leading a coalition that is expected to win, retained a neo-fascist tricolor flame symbol in its official logo despite calls for its removal in recent days. In an interview with Corriere della Sera on Sunday, Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni said the party was “proud” of the flame: “It has nothing to do with fascism but is recognition of the path taken by the Democratic Party right in our Republican history,” she said.
Parties have until August 22 To their lists of candidates.
The Brothers of Italy remain the largest party in Italy, according to the latest opinion polls, while their far-right opponent and coalition partner, the Lega, has gained slightly in polls in recent weeks. Along with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, the close alliance could win about 45% of the vote and benefit from the divisions that are tainting its opponents.
The center-left Democratic Party (PD) is struggling to form an alliance with enough clout to stave off a possible right-wing landslide.
Days after the breach of an alliance deal with the PD, Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist party Azione, joined forces with former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who heads Italia Viva, to form what they called a “third pole” a “pragmatic alternative to bi-populism from the right and left”.
Berlusconi, who will turn 86 four days after the vote, said last week he plans to run for senator to “make everyone happy”.