Sophia Loren cried with happiness when she returned yesterday to the poor Neapolitan district she once called home.

The actress, venerated in her native Italy as a symbol of femininity, was cheered by old friends and neighbours as she explored Pozzuoli, the Naples suburb where she grew up.

A 15-year absence prompted officials in May to remove her right to vote, leaving the 66-year-old actress distraught. Despite a childhood of poverty, allied bombing raids and taunts over her illegitimacy, the district was in her soul, she said.

"Am I all emotional? Sure, I have to say that I cried, and I cried with joy. Every step of the stairs, every little mark on the wall reminds me of something."

Now a resident of California and Switzerland, she came back to Procida, a tiny fishing island in the Bay of Naples, to star in a film directed by Lina Wertmuller.

"Sophia, you're very beautiful," shouted an admirer, as she entered the flat where she once shared two bedrooms with seven others. Loren hugged her aunt, Dora Villani, and her sister, Maria Scicolone, mother of Alessandra Mussolini, the politician granddaughter of Benito Mussolini.

At the age of 14 she won a local beauty contest and a year later went to Rome to find fame, fortune and marriage with the producer Carlo Ponti.