Italian silver screen icon Gina Lollobrigida has died, leaving a memorable legacy behind which marked the golden era in European cinema.

She was 95.

Screen legend Gina Lollobrigida, the former sex symbol once billed as the world's most beautiful woman, has died at the age of 95, her family confirmed to ANSA news agency on Monday.

She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol.

 At the time of her death, Lollobrigida was among the last living high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

As her film career slowed, Lollobrigida established a second career as a photojournalist.

Lollobrigida continued on as an active supporter of Italian and Italian-American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2008, she received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala.

Actress  Sophia Loren said she was  shaken and saddened by the death of the actress.

 "I'm deeply shaken and saddened, and above all incredulous at what has happened," Loren, 88, after the passing of her fellow diva and legend, told ANSA.

Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano also paid tribute Lollobrigida after the once 'most beautiful woman in the world' died in her Rome home.
"Farewell to a screen diva, protagonist of over a half a century of Italian cinema history. Her allure will remain eternal. Ciao Lollo", he said.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said "she was an Italian icon for the world".