Luigi Comencini, one of Italy’s best known and prolific film directors, has died at the age of 90, the Lucherini film studios announced on April 6.
Comencini was best known for his 1953 hit, Bread, Love and Dreams”, which starred Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio De Sica and spawned two sequels.
But he considered La Storia with Claudia Cardinale as his best film.
He directed 50 movies — which also included Traffic Jam in 1979 and Misunderstood (1966) — many of which focused on the plight of children and the working man. Comencini also wrote about 40 screenplays.
Born in 1916 in the northern Italian province of Brescia, Comencini studied in Paris and at the Milan school of architecture.
He was a cinema critic before launching his career as a director in 1946 with Children in Cities.
Comencini retired from the cinema in 1989. His daughter Cristina is also a director. – Sapa-AFP