{"id":13546,"date":"2026-05-07T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/13546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:01:07","slug":"the-last-one-for-the-road-sweeps-italys-david-di-donatello-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/13546\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Last One for the Road’ Sweeps Italy’s David di Donatello Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFrancesco Sossai\u2019s sophomore feature \u201cThe Last One for the Road<\/a>,\u201d which launched from Cannes\u2019 Un Certain Regard, is the big winner of Italy\u2019s David di Donatello Awards<\/a>, the country\u2019s top film prize.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor the Road,\u201d a drama that follows two broke 50-somethings who are small-time crooks who befriend a shy architecture student. As a trio, they go on a chaotic voyage through the Venetian plains. The film scored top honors for best film, director, actor, editing, screenplay, producer, casting and original song.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFreedom means being fearless,\u201d said Sossai, upon receiving the best film statuette. \u201cThanks to all. And let\u2019s go get a drink!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film opened in the U.S. via Music Box Films on May 1 at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in New York and is now expanding to other cities nationwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe David Award for best first work went to Margherita\u00a0Spampinato for\u00a0\u201cGioia Mia\u201d (\u201cSweetheart\u201d) about a cheeky young boy named Nico who is raised in a tech-savvy family and forced to spend the summer in a seaside Sicilian town with his grumpy and religious elderly aunt. <\/p>\n

\n\tAurora Quattrocchi, who in \u201cGioia Mia\u201d plays the elderly aunt known as Zia Gela, scooped the actress award.<\/p>\n

\n\tSilvio Soldini\u2019s \u201cThe Tasters,\u201d which reconstructs the true story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler\u2019s food tasters, won the best screenplay award \u2013 to Doriana Leondeff, Silvio Soldini, Lucio Ricca, Cristina Comencini, Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia \u2013 the Youth David voted by a vast student jury and the best makeup artist prize.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s edition of Italy\u2019s David Awards has been characterised by mounting anti-government anger led in large part by the country\u2019s film community, who are up in arms that the culture ministry\u2019s funding faucet for local production rebates and other incentives had, until very recently, been virtually shut for the past two years. A boycott of the Davids as a form of protest had been proposed in the lead-up to the event, but did not happen.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough the film funds have now finally started to flow again, the pot has been shrunk by the government from a total \u20ac700 million ($822 million)\u00a0in 2025 to\u00a0\u20ac610 million ($716 million)\u00a0in 2026,\u00a0and \u20ac500 ($585 million) earmarked for 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the positive side, 2026 started positively in terms of local moviegoing, with admissions up 18.9% in the first four months of the year compared with the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the previously announced awards are the David for Best International Film to Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and the Audience David to recent megahit \u201cBuen Camino\u201d directed by Gennaro Nunziante and featuring comic sensation Checco Zalone. Three time Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro was honored with a special prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe career award went to Gianni Amelio, who is best-known outside Italy for his Oscar-nominated \u201cOpen Doors\u201d (1990) and also \u201cStolen Children,\u201d which won the 1992 Cannes Grand Prix. He more recently helmed \u201cBattleground,\u201d which bowed in Venice in 2024. Amelio is now in post on the drama \u201cNo Pain\u201d toplining Valeria Golino and Alessandro Borghi that is tipped for Venice this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Davids were held at Rome\u2019s Cinecitt\u00e0 Studios, which are undergoing a radical revamp and have become luring Hollywood productions, most recently Netflix\u2019s live-action \u201cAssassin\u2019s Creed\u201d series directed by Johan Renck that is currently filming there.<\/p>\n

\n\tSee the complete list of 2026 David Awards winners below.<\/p>\n

\n\tPICTURE<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Last One for the Road,\u201d Francesco Sossai<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR
Francesco Sossai, \u201cThe Last One for the Road\u201d<\/p>\n

DEBUT DIRECTOR
\u201cGioia Mia,\u201d Spampinato<\/p>\n

PRODUCER
Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Vivo Film, RAI Cinema, in collaboration with Philipp Kreuzer for Maze Pictures, Cecilia Trautvetter <\/p>\n

ACTRESS
Aurora Quattrocchi, \u201cGioia Mia\u201d
ACTOR
Sergio Romano, \u201cThe Last One For The Road\u201d<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Matilda De Angelis, \u201cFuori\u201d
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nino Musellla, \u201cNonostante\u201d<\/p>\n

SCREENPLAY
\u201cThe Last One for the Road\u201d Francesco Sossai, Adriano Candiago
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
\u201cThe Tasters,\u201d Doriana Leondeff, Silvio Soldini, Lucio Ricca, Cristina Comencini, Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia.<\/p>\n

\n\tCINEMATOGRAPHY
Paolo Carnera, \u201cLa Citt\u00e0 Proibita\u201d<\/p>\n

EDITING
Paolo Cottignola \u201cThe Last One For The Road\u2019<\/p>\n

DOCUMENTARY
\u201cRoberto Rossellini \u2013 Pi\u00f9 di Una Vita,\u201d Ilaria De Laurentiis, Andrea Paolo Massara, Raffaele Brunetti
SHORT
\u201cDomenica Sera,\u201d Matteo Tortone
CASTING
Stefania Rod\u00e0, Maurilio Mangano, \u201cVermiglio\u201d
SCORE
Fabio Massimo Capogrosso, \u201cPrimavera\u201d<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL SONG
\u201cTi\u201d from the film \u201cThe Last One For The Road,\u201d Marco Spigarol, (AKA Krano), performed by Krano<\/p>\n

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Andrea Castorina, Marco Martucci, \u201cLa Citt\u00e0 Proibita\u201d<\/p>\n

COSTUME DESIGN
Maria Rita Barbera, Gaia Calderone \u201cPrimavera\u201d<\/p>\n

MAKEUP ARTIST
Esm\u00e9 Sciaroni, \u201cThe Tasters\u201d<\/p>\n

HAIR ARTIST
Marta Iacoponi, \u201cPrimavera\u201d<\/p>\n

SOUND
Gianluca Scarlata, Davide Favargiotti, Daniele Quadroli, Nadia Paone, \u201cPrimavera\u201d<\/p>\n

DIGITAL EFFECTS
Stefano Leoni, Andrea Lo Priore, \u201cLa Citt\u00e0 Proibita\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBEST SHORT<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEveryday in Gaza,\u201d Omar Rammal<\/p>\n

\n\tAUDIENCE AWARD
\u201cBuen Camino,\u201d Gennaro Nunziante
BEST FOREIGN FILM
\u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d Paul Thomas Anderson
YOUTH DAVID
\u201cThe Tasters,\u201d Silvio Soldini
CAREER DAVID
Gianni Amelio
SPECIAL DAVID
Bruno Bozzetto
SPECIAL DAVID CINECITT\u00c0
Vittorio Storaro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francesco Sossai\u2019s sophomore feature \u201cThe Last One for the Road,\u201d which launched from Cannes\u2019 Un Certain Regard, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1817,5,3100],"class_list":{"0":"post-13546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-david-di-donatello-awards","9":"tag-italy","10":"tag-the-last-one-for-the-road"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}