The 95-year-old film diva Gina Lollobrigida wants to run for a seat in the Senate in the snap parliamentary elections on September 25.

The Italia sovrana e popolare (Sovereign and National Italy) party, which includes communists, socialists and other left-wing populist Eurosceptics, planted the icon of Italian cinema in the Latina constituency south of Rome.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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However, it is questionable whether the new party can clear the three percent hurdle to enter parliament.

Senator Emanuele Dessì of the Communist Party confirmed Lollobrigida's candidacy and was proud to have "a woman with us who has written the history of Italian cinema over the last 60 years".

The diva also wants to campaign

When asked by the Milan newspaper “Corriere della Sera” whether she had “gone crazy”, Lollobrigida initially answered with a laugh, according to the newspaper, before replying: “But no.

I'm just fed up with hearing politicians argue without getting results." If elected for a five-year term, she will "fight to ensure that the people can decide - from health policy to the judiciary".

The country is "in bad shape" and she wants to contribute "something good and positive" while she still has the strength, Lollobrigida said in the interview published on Monday.

She decided to run after discussions with her lawyer Antonio Ingroia, a former anti-mafia prosecutor with his own political experience.

Should the party deem it necessary, it will also take part in the election campaign in the coming weeks.

The diva had already applied in 1999 for a mandate in the EU Parliament for the centre-left alliance of then Prime Minister and later EU Commission President Romano Prodi, but missed the leap into the Strasbourg Parliament with a share of 10,000 votes.

Alongside Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale and Monica Vitti, who died in February, "La Lollo Nazionale" achieved worldwide fame in the post-war decades.

She stood in front of the camera with the biggest film stars from Europe and Hollywood, after her film career she tried her hand as a photographer and sculptor.

In recent years, Lollobrigida has made headlines mainly because of family disputes and dubious connections with significantly younger men.

Since October, a court ruled that she was no longer allowed to dispose of her assets after Lollobrigida's son Andrea Milko Skofic sued his mother's 34-year-old assistant, Andrea Piazzolla.

The courts saw it as proven that Piazzolla had exploited the film diva, who was only partially sane, emotionally and especially financially.

Piazzolla is said to have offered around 350 items from Lollobrigida's possession to auction houses through an intermediary.

He also sold three of her apartments in Rome and recently a Jaguar.

According to the family, Lollobrigida suffered damage of around seven million euros.

According to estimates, the assets of Lollobrigida, who is now standing for a communist-dominated party, should still amount to more than 200 million euros.