Who Is Maria Scicolone, The Mother of Alessandra Mussolini

Alessandra Mussolini is no longer so divisive: “I’m the one who has divided myself into so many roles, so many beautiful and light-hearted things, because life needs lightness.” These are the words of the winner of the latest edition of Big Brother VIP, who since September has also been a commentator on Uomini e Donne , alongside the well-established duo of Gianni Sperti and Tina Cipollari. After her latest TV experiences, she seems reborn and ready to face new professional commitments with renewed enthusiasm. Her secret? Undoubtedly her family , the home of all her loved ones and the source of her strength.

A family of strong women

Not only the family she has built over time with her husband Mauro Floriani, to whom she has been married since 1989 and from which Caterina (1995), Clarissa (1997) and Romano (2003) were born , but above all her family of origin, dotted with ” strong women, capable of creating their own destiny “. “We were a triad: me, my sister and my mother”. A family “strictly of women”, where “men have always been a bit on the margins”, explains Alessandra Mussolini on Verissimo , where she shows off a short white feather dress that reflects her very much. “The feather is light, but it sticks to your hands”. This is the symbol of an “attachment to true, real things and therefore also to family”.

The family surname “bought” by aunt Sophia Loren

Born in Rome on December 30, 1962, to jazz pianist and composer Romano Mussolini, the fourth child of Benito Mussolini and Rachele Guidi, and Maria Scicolone , younger sister of actress Sophia Loren , who was her aunt, Alessandra Mussolini grew up in a turbulent family environment. Maria Scicolone was herself the daughter of musician Romilda Villani, whose relationship with her partner Riccardo Scicolone was anything but straightforward and often marked by his infidelity. A key role in this was played by “Aunt Sophia,” a “simple person” who greatly supported her sister. With the first money she earned from her first film gig, the then-very young actress used it to redeem her sister’s surname, which her father, Riccardo Scicolone, had never wanted to acknowledge.

Who is Maria Scicolone, sacrificed for her sister Sofia?

A purchased and reclaimed surname is what allowed Maria to gain recognition and then find her own path, always with her family in mind. Born in Rome in 1938, four years after her sister Sofia, and raised in Pozzuoli after the end of Romilda and Riccardo’s relationship, Maria Scicolone—for years simply Maria Villani— was the sacrificed daughter. Her father’s belated recognition prompted her mother to lock her up at home as a young girl to prevent her from studying and to avoid it being known that her sister, who was just beginning to establish herself at Cinecittà, might be penalized for being the product of an extramarital affair.

The ransom

However, when her father Riccardo, in debt from failed real estate deals, asked Romilda for a loan of two million lire through his now-famous daughter Sofia, the sum was granted only in exchange for Maria’s recognition. Having become Maria Scicolone, she graduated from middle school at the age of twenty and managed to complete her studies, earning a degree in literature in 1976 at the age of thirty-eight. Finally free and emancipated, Maria often accompanied her sister, along with her producer and partner Carlo Ponti, on trips around the world, from Spain to Hollywood. Thanks to her singing and culinary skills, she also gained international recognition, duetting—albeit jokingly, as she herself stated—with Frank Sinatra, who offered her an audition to appear on one of his future albums, predicting a brilliant career for her.

Marriage and daughters

Back in Rome, Maria met jazz pianist Romano Mussolini, and after a period of dating, the couple married in 1962 in Predappio. They had two daughters: Alessandra in 1962 and Elisabetta in 1967. The marriage did not last long due to Romano Mussolini’s frequent extramarital affairs, and the two separated in 1971, obtaining a final divorce in 1976. Suffering from a nervous breakdown, she met Iranian cardiologist Abdoul Majid Tamiz , head of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department at the San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital, whom she married for the second time.

TV career and illness

Having become known to the general public as a chef and recipe writer, and a frequent guest commentator on television programs , Maria Scicolone is the author of several books in which she intersperses memories of her travels with her sister Sofia with recipes for dishes she served to international jet-setters, including Anthony Quinn, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Cary Grant, and Nancy Reagan . Today, she is 88 years old and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019. She is currently living in a nursing home. “My mother fought so hard in life: her children were the only thing for her,” her eldest daughter Alessandra told Verissimo. “She is enthusiastic about life and made sacrifices just for us. We didn’t have a father by our side because my parents divorced when I was four years old and my sister was nine months old. And she sacrificed herself.” In her touching account, Alessandra explains that “she is now in a medical facility. Last Saturday she was so happy that we went to visit her. I’m not ready for her death; I want to face it and not know anything.”

Sister Elizabeth

Elisabetta, a notary by profession, is much more reserved and reserved than her older sister, and little is known about her: “Elisabetta never wants to expose herself.” “We usually call each other 30 times a day, starting at seven in the morning,” Alessandro said a few months ago in the Big Brother VIP house , where his sister had unexpectedly visited her, clarifying that she had done so only for her. As their mother grew older, “my sister Elisabetta has become my point of reference.” A safety net built around her mother, who remains a fundamental and indispensable point of reference for Alessandra.

The dream of becoming a grandmother

“For me, my family is my point of reference, and I, in turn, defend my children tooth and nail.” Between memories and nostalgia, a thought also goes to her three children, to whom she is very close: Romano, who now plays for Lazio; Clarissa, who is about to get married but will remain living in Rome with her mother; and finally Caterina, her 31-year-old eldest daughter, married to a Swiss-German man who lives in Congo while she works in Zambia . “I always tell Caterina to come back to Italy. I would be ready to become a grandmother because it’s a beautiful thing for your daughter to have children of her own: like a Russian doll, it’s the continuation of love.” Will this be enough to reunite the whole family under the same sky?