Editing Sophia Loren (section)

=== Family and childhood ===
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone was born on September 20, 1934, in the Clinica Regina Margherita in [[Rome]], [[Kingdom of Italy]],<ref>{{cite web|author=EnciclopediaTreccani|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sophia-loren|title=Sophia Loren profile|publisher=Treccani.it|access-date=15 March 2010}}</ref> the daughter of Romilda Villani (1910–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone Murillo (1907–1976). Her mother was a piano teacher and aspiring actress, her father a failed engineer who worked temporarily for the national railway [[Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane]]. Loren claimed in her autobiography that he was of noble descent, by virtue of which she is entitled to call herself "Viscountess of Pozzuoli, Lady of Caserta, a title given by the [[House of Hohenstaufen]], [[Marchioness]] of Licata Scicolone Murillo".{{sfn|Loren|2015|p=5}}

Loren's father refused to marry her mother,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n8s-4ehlIw&t=360s| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413124135/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n8s-4ehlIw&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=13 April 2020|title=YouTube|via=YouTube}}</ref> leaving her without financial support. Loren met her father three times, at age five, age seventeen and in 1976 at his deathbed, stating that she forgave him but had never forgotten his abandonment of her mother.<ref>"Interviews of a Lifetime" (1991) – Barbara Walters with Sofia Loren.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8241850.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115130849/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8241850.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 November 2012|title=Sophia Loren Now Appearing in 'El Cid', she remains a very human icon|last=Carr|first=Jay|work=[[Boston Globe]]|date=22 August 1993|access-date=15 March 2010}}</ref> Loren's parents had another child together, her sister [[Maria Scicolone|Maria]], in 1938. Scicolone did not want to formally recognise Maria as his daughter. When Loren became successful, she paid her father in order to have her sister Maria take the Scicolone last name.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Arnaldi |first1=Valeria |title=Maria Scicolone confessa: "Mia sorella Sophia Loren ha comprato il mio cognome" |url=https://www.ilmessaggero.it/societa/persone/sophia_loren_ha_comprato_cognome_parla_la_sorella_maria_scicolone-1580272.html |access-date=28 April 2022 |work=Il Messaggero |date=26 February 2016}}</ref> Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.<ref name="lorenarchives.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.lorenarchives.com/profile_family.html|title=Sophia Loren Archives – Chronicles|publisher=Lorenarchives.com|access-date=10 December 2010}}</ref> Romilda, Sofia, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in [[Pozzuoli]], near [[Naples]].<ref name="parade_1987">{{cite magazine|title=Sophia Loren Has a Secret: How She's Managed To Survive|date=18 January 1987|magazine=[[Parade (magazine)|Parade]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qCQeAAAAIBAJ&pg=5056,1131904&dq=sophia-how-she's-managed-to-succeed-ophia-loren-has-a&hl=en}}</ref><ref name="biography.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/actors/sophia-loren|title=Sophia Loren|date=23 April 2021|website=Biography|access-date=18 January 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063653/https://www.biography.com/actors/sophia-loren|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck by [[Shrapnel (fragment)|shrapnel]] and wounded in the chin.{{sfn|Loren|2015|p=14}} After that, the family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives. After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Loren's grandmother Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor. Romilda played the [[piano]], Maria sang, and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was popular with the [[G.I. (military)|American GIs]] stationed nearby.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}[[File:A young Sophia Loren, aged 15, at a beauty contest in Naples, Italy.jpg|thumb|Loren, age 15, as ''Sofia Lazzaro'' during a beauty pageant|249x249px]]