Italian Director Florestano Vancini Dies

Italian director Florestano Vancini, whose first film in 1960 won a Venice festival award, has died in Rome. He was 82.

His native city of Ferrara said Tuesday on its Web site that Vancini died September 18 after a long illness.

Vancini's film, "Lunga Notte del '43" — which means "the long night of '43" in Italian — captured the Venice Film Festival award for best first work.

Another Vancini film, "Il Delitto Matteotti," or "The Matteotti Assassination," won a special award in 1973 at the Moscow International Film Festival. Giacomo Matteotti, a Socialist lawmaker who opposed fascism, was slain in 1924.

Vancini also directed an episode of "La Piovra," a series about the Sicilian Mafia made for Italian TV.

Ferrara will hold a memorial service for him Wednesday.