Actress, model
Was a physics student at Naples University before she went into movies.
Has been Miss Da Tapa (1952)
Since the early 1960s has invested most of her considerable salary from film work in a luxurious villa--in the well-to-do district of Marino, Rome--complete with 16th-century furniture and paintings. That lasted until her spending was overtaken by dwindling income and, in 1976, she had to face a tax evasion inquest, and was forced to sell her house..
Lived with Raimondo Castelli since 1960, but did not marry because of the opposition of Italian law and of his wife, Marinella, refusing divorce to couples married by the Catholic rite. They did marry in Mexico in 1967, but that was not recognized in Italy.
Posed nude for Playboy in 1975, when she was 42.
Her family fled Yugoslavia after World War II and resettled in Italy. Sylva won several beauty contests and worked as a fashion model. She was offered a screen test by Eduardo De Filippo , but failed. Nonetheless, she persevered and went to Rome seeking work as an actress, eventually ending up with several bit parts. These led to more substantial leading roles in light comedies, costume dramas and sword-and-sandal epics like Le fatiche di Ercole . Ultimately her ornamental qualities rather exceeded her abilities as an actress.
