He comes from a country best known for its fast cars, fine cuisine, showy fashion designers and extravagant lovers. All of which helps you to understand that Italian export Antonio Sabato Jr., who relocated to America from Rome as a 12-year-old, had certain advantages when it came to establishing himself as a romantic role model.

And that he certainly is. At a tender 21, Sabato had barely come of age when he found himself tagged one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" in '93. His love affairs have been high-visibility: an early marriage to model Tully Jensen was followed by two years in a relationship with actress Virginia Madsen.

On-screen, he's played the beau to Heather Locklear (he was her hot-tempered mafioso ex-husband on Melrose Place), Shannon Doherty (he lured her into his getaway plans in the cable film Jailbreakers), Kellie Martin (they made the telefilm Her Hidden Truth) and Janet Jackson (they frolicked in the Love Will Never Do Without You video). "They all have their own personalities, every one of them," he says of his leading ladies.

He zips around L.A. in his Mercedes ("It's a very safe car for my son"), indulges in his infatuations for roller coasters, diving and Batman, and keeps his six-foot-one hardbody primed. Sabato, who first made a name for himself on General Hospital (he averaged 300 fan mail letters a week) was most recently seen - and we mean seen - revealing his physique in Calvin Klein black bikini underwear on a 90-foot billboard in New York. The first non-model to pose for the designer's underwear line since "Marky Mark" Wahlberg did so in '92, Sabato just re-upped his contract for another two years, and thus his studly abs and pecs are a necessity.

Currently filming the action flick High Voltage, Sabato is also developing ideas for another TV series. "I don't want to do another mistake like I did on Earth 2, he says, bitter about that '94-'95 sci-fi series which fizzled on NBC.

One bright aspect of doing Earth 2 was that it brought Sabato to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he purchased a home during production of the series. "I used to have horses there. I sold them, but I still get back there every other month. I have a five-acre ranch out there. Where I live, there's nothing else around so I can go out riding at eight or nine o'clock and not come back until mid-afternoon." Western life was just as he'd always imagined: raised by an Italian actor father, Sabato learned about the free-ranging lifestyle as a tyke - "I grew up watching John Wayne. My father did about 25 spaghetti Westerns, so I always loved Westerns."

Living where the sun bakes a rich earth into submitting corns and chiles, and trees drop apples and piñon nuts, caused Sabato to rethink American history: "When we get up in the morning, we're standing in a country that really isn't ours. I went to school in this country and I remember looking in the history books and there's something missing - the Native Americans. You read about George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Where are the Native Americans?"

Curious about cultures in general, this 25-year-old often locks the door on his Marina Del Rey condo and ventures afield - besides Santa Fe, he likes Miami; he wants to visit Argentina ("I'd like to snow-ski in Argentina") and Jerusalem ("I'd like to walk those streets before it's all destroyed"); and he returns to Rome every year or two.

While it has been suggested that the amorous Sabato could have a future cut out for himself as anyone from the next Lorenzo Lamas to the next Marcello Mastroianni, he idealistically plans for himself, "All I want to do is work with good material and work with actors like Sean Connery and Larry Fishburne. And I have no doubt that if I work hard, I will. I don't want awards. I have my son."

Copyright ©1997 Cowboys & Indians

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Text by Wolf Schneider Photographs by Studio Seven Productions Styling by Colette Neyrey Makeup by Lori Jean Swanson for Cloutier