Loren won the accolade for her lead role as Madame Rosa in Netflix original La Vita Davanti a Sé (The Life Ahead), directed by her son Edoardo Ponti.
In the film, Loren plays a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor who forges an unlikely bond with a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant boy.
“The emotion is the same as the first David 60 years ago, perhaps even greater,” Loren said on stage after she received a standing ovation.
This is a record-breaking seventh David di Donatello for the veteran actress, 86, who said she would share the prize with her young co-star Ibrahima Gueye whom she called a “wonderful, magical child”.
“I don’t know if this will be my last film but I still want to make more, even more beautiful,” Loren said.
“I absolutely cannot live without cinema!”
Volevo Nascondermi (Hidden Away) was the big winner at the 66th edition of the awards, held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie theatres gradually begin to reopen.
The movie by Giorgio Diritti won a David for best film and best director, and its star Elio Germano took home the best actor award for his role as the primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue.
The ceremony included Laura Pausini performing Io Sì (Seen), the Golden Globe-winning song from the soundtrack to La Vita Davanti a Sé, with orchestral tributes to the late Ennio Morricone conducted by the composer’s son Andrea, featuring the Cinema Paradiso aria and Deborah’s Theme from Once Upon a Time in America.
The televised awards also saw a standing ovation in memory of the much-loved Roman actor and director Gigi Proietti, who died in Rome last November.
