page_title: David di Donatello for Best Director
section_title: Winners and nominees
hierarchical_section_title: David di Donatello for Best Director / Winners and nominees
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Roberto Benigni au festival de Cannes
context_page_description: The David di Donatello Award for Best Director is a film award presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano to recognize the outstanding direction of a film director who has worked within the Italian film industry during the year preceding the ceremony. The award was first given in 1956, and became competitive in 1981.
  Nominees and winners are selected via runoff voting by all the members of the Accademia.
  Francesco Rosi is the record holder with six awards in the category, received from 1965 to 1997, followed by Mario Monicelli and Giuseppe Tornatore with four.
context_section_description: Below, winners are listed first in the colored row, followed by other nominees.
caption: Roberto Benigni won in 1998 for Life is Beautiful.
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