Sophia Loren’s Homes: Inside the Hollywood Icon’s Most Notable Addresses

Photo: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Sophia Loren has been in at least 100 movies over her long and storied career—a feat made even more impressive by her rags-to-riches life story, itself worthy of a silver screen depiction. The golden age movie star was born Sofia Villani Scicolone in 1934, to a single mother in Rome. She grew up in a small apartment shared with extended family members in Pozzuoli, just outside of Naples. During World War II, the family lived in poverty and frequently went hungry.

Loren began acting at 16, and went on to become the first actor to win an Oscar for a foreign language film for her role in Two Women in 1961, establishing herself as a hugely successful international star. Below, we explore some of the legend’s most notable homes around the globe.

Villa Sara, Marino, Italy

When Loren wed film producer Carlo Ponti, he reportedly promised her “the most beautiful house in the world.” That vow materialized in the form of a lavish 16th-century villa in Marino, Italy, just outside of Rome. The couple began to restore the Baroque 50-room mansion, known as Villa Sara, in 1960 and decked it out with opulent furnishings, large-scale artwork in gilded frames, and colossal chandeliers.

In 1964, Life magazine published photos of the Oscar winner at the dwelling, lounging in her fresco-lined bedroom and swimming in her gigantic pool, in front of an equally grand guesthouse. The poolside structure was studded out with marble statues and dual winding staircases leading up to a sprawling terrace. The grounds stretched 18 acres and hosted grassy lawns, waterfalls, a stable, an aqueduct, a tennis court, and an orchard.

Loren reportedly sold the dwelling shortly after Ponti died in 2007.

La Concordia, Thousand Oaks, California

Loren and Ponti bought a Thousand Oaks, California, compound from actress Eve Arden in 1981, according to the Los Angeles Times. The nearly 40-acre estate, known as La Concordia, served as a summer home for the family, and later as a more permanent residence for the couple’s sons and their families.

The main home on the compound is a 1950-built Craftsman-style abode spanning 4,253 square feet, with rock walls and beamed ceilings. It has four bedrooms, five and a half baths, and three living rooms. A courtyard at the heart of the structure is equipped with a fireplace. Also found on the property: a guesthouse, a pool house, a staff dwelling, two swimming pools, a persimmon orchard, and a rose garden.

The Houseboat star and her husband sold the Hidden Valley dwelling in 2006 for $6.9 million.

Williams Island, Aventura, Florida

In 1987, Loren gave Architectural Digest a peek inside her new South Florida dwelling. The apartment was located on Williams Island, for which the Marriage Italian Style star also served as a spokesperson and consultant. The spot was ideal for Loren, Ponti, and their two sons for its seclusion. “What I appreciate most when I’m not working is the chance to lead as normal a family life as possible,” the film icon told AD. “There's as much sailing, swimming and sunbathing as you could want, and it gives everyone a chance to relax.”

To establish a sense of home, Loren decorated the vacation home with furniture and decor from Europe, including the same four-poster bed that she was photographed on during the 1964 photoshoot at her Italian villa.

Geneva, Switzerland

Loren has called Geneva, Switzerland home for over 50 years. In 1987, the film star told AD, “I move around so much I don’t really know where ‘home’ is. The nearest thing to it, I suppose, is our place in Geneva, because my sons, Carlo and Edoardo, were both born there and still go to school just nearby.”

The Life Ahead actor made a point of keeping her family life private, so details about her Swiss real estate are scarce. “We needed to be in a place where we could feel safer and live more peacefully,” she wrote of the move in her 2014 memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

In 2012, Annie Leibovitz photographed the screen legend in her Geneva home for Vanity Fair. Lounging on that same antique four-poster bed from her Roman villa, Loren posed for the camera in her gold and red bedroom, walls plastered with framed art and tapestries. According to the outlet, the residence is in the city’s Old Town neighborhood.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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