"Sequels are always made for purely commercial reasons, i.e. to allow producers to make more money. However, they are extremely damaging to an artist's career."

"She makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple."

"(About Marilyn Monroe) When we met, the first thing she told me was that they called her the American Gina Lollobrigida. She was surprisingly modest, and I immediately liked her."

"What makes me angry is that they have always tried to take something away from women, and this continues today. It is always men who move forward and women who are always one step behind, and this is not fair. We should have a little equality."

"A beautiful woman, even at seventy, is a beautiful woman, damn it, and if she has talent, you have to admit it, not despise the beautiful woman."

"There is less emotion in cinema today. There are stories that unfold in a setting of absolute futurism, and when I see them, I change the channel. In Italian cinema, when it was number one in the world, and that's what I was lucky enough to do, there was more emotion. People would watch a film and identify with it, they would cry and get emotional. There was something in the films that touched our emotions."

"(About acting) I think a little training is good, but I also believe that instinct is what wins out."

"I wasn't passionate about cinema. I did it to help my family. We were displaced in Rome and needed to eat. Those were the years when actors were picked up off the street. Some people stopped me as I was leaving school and asked me if I wanted to be in films, and I said no, that I wasn't interested. Then they offered me a thousand lire a day, and that convinced me to become an actress."

"[Which recognition do you value most?] The four stamps that San Marino had printed with my face on them. It's a privilege reserved for kings and queens."

"(About the reasons for her marriage to Milko Skofic) Well, there was a reason... I had a misadventure, like many women. There was a wretch who took advantage of me, a footballer from Lazio. He drugged me, I was a virgin... What was I going to report him for? In those days... Now he's dead. I tried to convince myself that nothing had happened, but you don't forget something like that. Afterwards, I got together with Milko. It wasn't that he wanted to marry me, I wanted to, to have a normal life, I felt ruined... It was certainly a marriage of convenience on his part. He played tennis and counted money, that's all he did. When it became legal to do so, I divorced him."

"Gossip only lasts a few days, it dies down very quickly and the truth prevails once again."

"We had the chance to meet these incredible human beings who really, truly embody resilience and strength."

"The women have been ostracized, dehumanized, stripped of their dignity, stripped of their land, and now, through music, they were able to convey all of those experiences."

"[In reference to the 250 photographs taken of Duchess Kate Middleton for the official portraits of her 40th birthday] I did the first screening, about ten of her favourites, then we arrived at 3 of my favorites and one of hers , the official photo is the one we both prefer. However, Kate was less decisive than me in her final choice. The designer Sarah Burton (she designed Kate's wedding dress) chose her dresses: only one was red, the others neutral. For the official portrait she wore the organza one, almost like a classical dancer. In the end I wanted to take some moving photos, so with that wonderful full skirt I made it dance in front of my lens, a kind of accelerated waltz mixed with a pinch of rock'n'roll."

"[What is the nude, for you?] It is the purest and most elegant way of taking a portrait of someone. I'm not looking for imaginative anatomies or eroticism."

"[Let's talk about women, you have worked with the most beautiful top models in the world. From Kate Moss to Naomi Campbell, from Inès de la Fressange to Kirsten Owen. To whom did she leave a piece of her heart?] To all. A platonic love always arises between photographer and model. With Inès de la Fressange there was an immediate feeling. I took the first nude photo of her for Vogue. And it was Inès who inspired me the whole series that followed (later collected in the book Nudi, ed)."

"[For a fashion photo to work, what must it have?] It must be a double portrait: of a woman wearing a dress and of a dress worn by a woman."

"Guinevere van Seenus, who I have been photographing for more than 20 years, was one of the most important muses. She is delicate but determined, masculine but feminine, a hymn to creativity, imagination and dreams."

"[About Kate Middleton] she is a nice, welcoming woman who puts you at ease, respectful of everyone's work. She exudes joy in life. Open, generous, bright, I think she can bring a lot of hope to England and the whole world."

"In the portrait that I consider official, she Kate Middleton is also a bit of Angelica from The Leopard by Visconti."

"[Do you miss contact with photographic paper and the scent of printing?] I miss the 20×25 Polaroids: they were my "palette". It's difficult to get attached to a digital camera. It hasn't happened to me yet."

"[From the 80s to today, what has changed?] Today the world is changing at a frightening speed. Especially fashion, a river that flows bringing with it always fresh water from different sources. Almost everything has changed since the 1980s. Body language, habits, ways of working, subjects, faces, clothes, hairstyles, make up. If we leaf through an Amica of that period, everything seems anachronistic. How did we dress and put on makeup like that? Social media has also revolutionized communication."

"The country does not recognize a photojournalist as a journalist."

"Per me è motivo di continua sorpresa il fatto che quasi tutti i professionisti fotografano solo su ordine dei committenti e quasi mai per inventare e sperimentare."

"Finalmente ad aiutare i ricordi venne una macchina, l'apparecchio fotografico un tempo ingombrante come un mobile in mezzo alla stanza, oggi leggero, lucido e preciso come un'arma. Preciso. E fedele?"

"Paolo Monti (1908-1982) est toujours considéré comme un maître fondamental de la photographie italienne de l'après-guerre : auteur et théoricien en même temps qu'historien et enseignant."