Elisabetta Canalis

Elisabetta Canalis, Italy’s hottest It Girl, is conquering the world. Ciao, bella!

Elisabetta Canalis, Italy’s hottest It Girl, is conquering the world. Ciao, bella!

Men were staring mostly at Elisabetta Canalis, George Clooney’s date, during the recent Venice Film Festival premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats. Known throughout her native Italy as “La Canalis” or “Eli” (which we’re pretty sure translates to “so freakin’ hot she makes you want to punch yourself in the prosciutto”), Elisabetta Canalis first made a name for herself as a showgirl on the whacked-out TV hit Striscia la Notizia. (Think of some crazed melding of a late night show, giant talking puppets, and bevies of women prancing about in lingerie, and you get the picture.) From there Elisabetta Canalis went on to pose in dozens of ad campaigns, appear on MTV Italy’s Total Request Live, and star in her own best-selling calendar (thank you, Google image search!, making her the most wanted target of the Italian paparazzi. Up next for the olive-skinned sexpot? If there is a God, she’ll take an interest in magazine publishing and apply for an internship here at Maxim. But judging by the reception she received on the red carpet and the gushing comments made by bloggers who flooded the Web with her glorious image, we can only hope and pray and make blood offerings that a Hollywood career is about to be made. Don’t forget the little people (i.e., us), Elisabetta!