All the italians (males, including my father, and females) fell in love with her.
Indeed, she brings out innocence, and also the better side of the "protective" male... who'd probably be the exact opposite, given half a chance!
In a way, she brings back to me the closing scenes of
La Dolce Vita, where Marcello is on the beach at Fregene, and the young girl who worked in the restaurant he'd been to earlier on is waving and saying something to him across a distance... he can't hear her nor she him. God, that's so representative of so many situations in life. No wonder Fellini and Antonioni were so respected by discerning audiences: they could touch you where your soul lived rather than force you to wallow in mindless slush and violence. Gone are those wonderful days...
Having thought of that
Dolce scene, my head goes back to this, which just shows you how old heads work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kz42oFVBNg"He couldn't swim the raging river 'cause the river was too wide
He couldn't reach Little White Dove, waiting on the other side
In the moonlight he could see her, blowing kisses, 'cross the waves
Her little heart was beating faster, waiting there for her brave"
Ahhh...
Rob