| David di Donatello Awards | |
|---|---|
| Current: 68th David di Donatello | |
 A David di Donatello awarded in 2014 | |
| Awarded for | The best of Italian and foreign motion picture productions |
| Date | 1955 |
| Country | Italy |
| Presented by | Academy of Italian Cinema |
| First awarded | 5 June 1956 |
| Website | www |
The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's David, a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance,[1] are film awards given out each year by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award categories, as of 2023.
The industry-voted awards are considered the Italian equivalent of the American Academy Awards[2] and rank among top-tier awards such as the Premio Regia Televisiva for television, the Premio Ubu for stage performances, the Sanremo Music Festival, and the annual Venice Film Festival, which hosts the Golden Lion film award.[3]
The David di Donatello film awards follow the same criteria as the American Academy Awards.[2] The ceremony was established in 1955 in order to honour the best of each year's Italian and foreign films, and first awarded in Rome on 5 July 1956.[4]
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. However, the Donatellos are awarded by people within the film industry, including actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, and technicians.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] During the years 1950s, when the ceremony was held in Taormina, it was organized by journalist and film producer Michael Stern, who later went on to found The Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation in New York City.[citation needed]
The founding organization, now called the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, works in concert with and thanks to the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Performing Arts and the Ministry for Cultural Properties and Activities.[citation needed]
The prizes are awarded primarily to Italian films, with a category dedicated to foreign-language films.
Here is a list of presidents of the Academy of Italian Cinema:
| President | Start | End | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italo Gemini | 1955 | 1970 | |
| Eitel Monaco | 1971 | 1977 | |
| Paolo Grassi | 1978 | 1980 | |
| Gian Luigi Rondi | 1981 | 2016† | President for life since 2009 |
| Giuliano Montaldo | 2016 | 2017 | Interim |
| Piera Detassis | 2018 | current | First female to hold the office |
† Died in office.
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.[citation needed]
The 1956 David by Bulgari, awarded to Gina Lollobrigida for Beautiful but Dangerous, was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2013.[5]
As of 2020, with seven awards each, Margherita Buy, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, and Sophia Loren are the actors who have won the most Davids.[6][7]
| Actor | Leading | Supporting | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | N | W | N | W | N | |
| Margherita Buy | 5 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
| Alberto Sordi | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| Vittorio Gassman | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| Sophia Loren | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| Giancarlo Giannini | 4 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| Marcello Mastroianni | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Monica Vitti | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Marina Confalone | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Valerio Mastandrea | 2 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| Toni Servillo | 4 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| Elio Germano | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Mariangela Melato | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Nino Manfredi | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
