The wedding between Italian movie legend Gina Lollobrigida to a man 34 years her junior has been postponed by two months and the couple have decided to tie the knot in Rome instead of New York, as originally planned.
A statement from the couple said the switches were made "in the interest and affection for so many friends in Europe, especially Italians".
The wedding was to have taken place in New York on November 29, at Saint Malachy's Church, but will now be celebrated in the Italian capital on January 27.
The 79-year-old actress, once tagged The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, and 45-year-old Javier Rigau Rifols, a Spanish property entrepreneur from Barcelona, have chosen the Santa Maria in Aracoeli for the service in Rome.
Although the 34-year age difference raised many eyebrows, the couple revealed that they had been dating for the past 22 years, after meeting in 1984 when he was 23 and she 57.
A sloe-eyed, buxom brunette, Lollobgrigida, better known to Italians as 'La Lollo', long vied with fellow Italian bombshell Sophia Loren and French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot for the title of the world's sexiest woman.
In 1955 she starred in a film called La Donna Piu Bella del Mondo (The World's Most Beautiful Woman), which became her signature movie.
The daughter of a furniture manufacturer from a mountain village outside Rome, she has made over 60 films including some during the 1990s.
Lollobrigida's Hollywood breakout role came in the John Huston film Beat the Devil (1953). In 1961 she won a Golden Globe with Come September co-starring Rock Hudson.
With her earthy good looks she embodied the prototype of Italian beauty. Her distinctive short hairdo was especially influential. It quickly spread across Italy in the sixties and was referred to as the "Lollo".
Since retiring from cinema Lollobrigida has tried her hand as a photographer, sculptor, photojournalist and a fashion and cosmetics executive. Seven years ago she stood unsuccessfully for the European Parliament.
Rigau will be her second husband. The diva was divorced in 1971 after a 22-year marriage to a Yugoslav doctor, by whom she had a son.
