Miss Italia is a beauty pageant awarding prizes every year to young, female contestants from Italy. Since the first edition of the contest, in 1939, many of the contestants have gone on to careers in
Sophia Loren in publicity images from the Miss Italia contest, 1950
Naples, Miss Italia 1950 Sophia Loren
A young Sophia Loren, aged 15, at a beauty contest in Naples, Italy
Miss Universe Italy is a national pageant that currently selects the Italian representative for the Miss Universe pageant. The pageant was first organized in 1951 and it is not related to Miss Italia,
Erika Jorger (applied for Miss Universe Italy 1965) photographed by Paolo Monti in 1964
Daniela Bianchi was 1st runner-up at the Miss Universe 1960.
Anna Zamboni (applied in 1970)[photographed in 1969]
Grazia Maria Pinto (applied in 2012) [photographed in 2013]