David di Donatello


The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's David, a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano. There are 26 award categories, as of 2023. The industry-voted awards are considered the Italian equivalent of the American Academy Awards.
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History

The David di Donatello film awards were founded in 1955 by the founding president of AGIS, businessman Italo Gemini, in order to honour the best of each year's Italian and foreign films. It was first awarded in Rome on 5 July 1956.
The David di Donatello film awards follow the same criteria as the American Academy Awards.
Similar prizes had already existed in Italy for about a decade, such as the Nastro d'Argento, but these were voted on by film critics and journalists. The Donatellos are awarded by people within the film industry, including actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and technicians.
After Rome, from 1957 to 1980, the ceremony was held at the Greek Theatre in Taormina during Taormina Film Fest, then twice in Florence, finally returning to Rome, always with the support of the President of the Italian Republic and now with the collaboration of the Rome City Council cultural policies department.
The founding organization, now called the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, works in concert with and thanks to the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism.
The prizes are awarded primarily to Italian films, with a category dedicated to foreign-language films.

Presidents

The following is a list of presidents of the Academy of Italian Cinema:
PresidentStartEndNotes
Italo Gemini19551970
Eitel Monaco19711977
Paolo Grassi19781980
Gian Luigi Rondi19812016†President for life since 2009
Giuliano Montaldo20162017Interim
Piera Detassis2018currentFirst woman to hold the office

† Died in office.

Trophy

The David di Donatello trophy is in the form of a gold David statuette, a replica of Donatello's famous sculpture, on a square malachite base with a gold plaque recording the award category, year, and winner.
The 1956 David by Bulgari, awarded to Gina Lollobrigida for Beautiful but Dangerous, was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2013.

Award categories

Retired awards

Statistics

Multiple prize-winning actors

As of 2025, with seven awards each, Margherita Buy, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, and Sophia Loren are the actors who have won the most Davids.