To marry Carlo Ponti, Sophia Loren had to wait years. Not because love was lacking, but because in Italy of that time divorce did not exist yet.
When they met in Rome in 1950, their lives seemed to belong to distant worlds.
She was Sofia Scicolone, she was 16 years old, came from a childhood marked by economic difficulties and was trying to make her way into the world of show.
He was Carlo Ponti, he was thirty-seven years old and was already an established film producer.
Bridges soon realized the potential of young Sophia and contributed to the construction of her career. In the following years that girl would become Sophia Loren, one of the most famous Italian faces in the world.
But among them there was also a sentimental relationship destined to collide with a huge problem.
Ponti was already married.
In Italy in the 1950s there was no civil divorce, which would only be introduced in 1970. For this reason Ponti could not simply dissolve the previous marriage and marry Loren in Italy.
In 1957, the two attempted to resolve the situation by celebrating a proxy marriage in Mexico.
The solution, however, was not recognized by the Italian authorities.
Their position became extremely delicate: Ponti risked an accusation of bigamy and the couple spent long periods away from Italy while seeking a legal solution.
In the meantime Sophia Loren had become an international star.
And just as Hollywood opened every door, there was also another sentimental possibility.
During Orgoglio and Passion, Cary Grant fell in love with her. Loren would have told that Grant came to ask her to marry him.
It seemed like a choice from a film: on the one hand one of the biggest Hollywood stars, on the other Carlo Ponti and a complicated relationship with obstacles that seemed never to end.
Sophia chose Carlo.
He later explained that Ponti belonged to his world, to his roots, and that it was the right decision for her.
However, it took years to become legally husband and wife.
The solution came through France. Ponti got divorced after acquiring French citizenship and in 1966, he and Sophia finally got married legally.
About sixteen years had passed since their first meeting.
Even the desire to build a family went through painful moments. Loren suffered two spontaneous abortions before becoming a mother.
Then the sons came: Carlo Ponti Jr. in 1968 and Edoardo Ponti in 1973.
Sophia would describe Charles as the man capable of giving her that stability that allowed her to stay with her feet on the ground while around her everything changed dizzyingly.
They remained together until Ponti's death in 2007.
Their story does not need to be transformed into a perfect fairy tale. He began in complex circumstances, through public disputes, legal problems, away from Italy and private suffering.
And that is exactly what makes it such a special story in the history of Italian cinema.
Behind Sophia Loren, the international icon photographed on red carpets around the world, remained for decades Sofia, the girl who had chosen a man when that choice was far from simple.
Many years after Ponti's death, when he was asked if he could marry again, his response summed up what that man had represented in his life:
“No, never again. It would be impossible to love someone else. ”