The Italian beauty, who still has a figure women half her age would yearn for, will pose in a slinky see through black dress for the calendar, which this year has Jennifer Lopez on the front.

Although she will not be naked the picture will leave very little to the imagination and has been described as very "tasteful with a pair of drop diamond earrings."

Loren has had dozens of offers to pose naked in a film career stretching 50 years but has always turned them down although she accepted the Pirelli offer because of its legendary reputation.

The Pirelli calendar has been going for more than 40 years and is a limited edition publication given to special VIPs only - Prince Andrew is a regular recipient.

This year's 2006, calendar apart from featuring Jennifer Lopez also has cocaine scandal British model Kate Moss, for July and August.

Other 'month's in the 2006 calendar are illustrated by Giselle Bundchen, Guinevere Van Seenus and Karen Elson.

In a break from tradition next year's 2007 calendar will not feature so called supermodels but a more refined set of stars apart from Loren they are Hilary Swank, Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts and little known French actress Lou Doillon.

Yesterday's news that Loren would pose for Pirelli sparked massive interest in Italy especially as it was initially reported that she would bare all but this was denied by both Pirelli and her press agent, Enrico Lucherini. Speaking in Rome Mr Lucherini said: "Sophia is in the Pirelli calendar but she is certainly not nude.

"In the Sixties she had hundreds of offers to pose nude but she turned them all down but she still looks fantastic now.

"She will be 72 next birthday and she still has a figure that would be the envy of women half her age but she would never pose naked."

He would not release the pic of Loren that will be in the calendar, but did issue one taken from the same photoshoot - but showing her only lying on a bed with a sheet pulled up to her neck.

Loren's decision to appear in the Pirelli calendar was met with derision by another Italian screen icon of the Sixties, Claudia Cardinale.

She said:"Everyone is free to do what they want but I would never do it. "

Loren's decision, a few months before her 72nd birthday in September, is set to spark mixed emotions among her fans, with some struck by eager anticipation and others fearing she may dent her stately reputation.

However as she herself once said: "You have to be born a sex symbol. You don't become one. If you're born with it, you'll have it even when you're 100 years old."

Speaking of her decision to pose for the Pirelli calendar Loren said: "You have to be decisive when you want to do something you want and something that you have maybe wanted to do for some time."

Loren's pictures for the 2007 Pirelli calendar were taken in California last week by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

Last night Loren was quoted on the website of Italian daily Corriere Della Sera saying of the photo shoot:"I emjoyed myself posing as if I was a little girl again." A Pirelli spokesman in Milan said: "I can confirm that Sophia Loren has posed for the 2007 Pirelli calendar.

"The pictures were shot last week on location in America and she looks fantastic - you wouldn't think she is nearly 72 years old."