MichelePlacido's Romanzo Criminalehas scooped 10 nominations at Italy's second highest film awards, the Nastrid'Argento.

Veteranactor Placido'sseventh feature as a director is a fact- based epic about a Rome gang whichtried to control the Italian capital's underworld from the mid- 1970s to the1990s.

The filmstars Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino andClaudio Santamaria, who picked up a collective best actor nomination.

The film, which is tipped to screen at the Berlin Film Festival,also won nominations in the best screenplay, best supporting actor and bestcinematography categories.

Hot on Romanzo's heels was Italy's Oscarcandidate, Cristina Comencini's Don't Tell (La Bestia Nel Cuore) abouta soon-to-be-mother who is forced to deal for the first time with the ghosts ofchild abuse, which won eight nominations, including a best actress nodfor Giovanna Mezzogiorno. Romanzo Criminale and Don't Tell were both produced by Rome'sCattleya.

Alsoearning eight nominations was Alessandro D'Alatri's comedy La Febbre, starring Fabio Volo. PupiAvati's Venice title La Seconda Notte Di Nozze earned six nods, while Giovanni Veronesi'sbox office hit Manual Of Love, Francesco Munzi's drama Saimir, and Antonietta De Lillo's Il RestoDi Niente allgot five.

RobertoBenigni's The Tiger And The Snow received four, including best actor.

Nominees for best director of a foreign film include Tim Burton -The Corpse Bride , George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck and Aleksandr Sokurov - The Sun.

Czech-born actress Barbora Bobulova will receive a European Nastro. An honoraryNastro will be handed out to production designer Dante Ferretti - TheAviator ,costume designer Gabriella Pescucci - Charlie And The ChocolateFactory ,composer Nicola Piovani - The Tiger and The Snow and editor Pietro Scalia - Memoirs OfA Geisha .

The60-year-old Nastri d'Argento are handed out by 350 members of Italy's nationalcritics association. They are the second highest accolade in Italy after theDonatellos and will be handed out in Rome next month.

List of Nominations

Best director

Pupi Avati - La Seconda Notte Di Nozze

Cristina Comencini - Don't Tell

Alessandro D'Alatri - La Febbre

Michele Placido - Romanzo Criminale

Giovanni Veronesi - Manual Of Love

Best newcomer

Stefano Mordini - Provincia Meccanica

Vittorio Moroni - Tu Devi Essere Il Lupo

Francesco Munzi - Saimir

Fausto Paravidino - Texas

Stefano Pasetto - Tartarughe Sul Dorso

Best producer

Antonio Avati - Duea Film

Aurelio De Laurentiis - Filmauro

Daniele Mazzocca, Cristiano Bortone and Gianluca Arcopinto - Orisaproduzioni

Marco Poccioni e Marco Valsania - Rodeo Drive

Riccardo Tozzi, Marco Chimenz, Giovanni Stabilini - Cattleya

Best original story

Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami - The Tiger and The Snow

Francesco Munzi - Saimir

Ferzan Ozpetek, Gianni Romoli - Cuore sacro

Fausto Paravidino, Iris Fusetti, Carlo Orlando - Texas

Marco Ponti, Lucia Moisio - L'uomo perfetto

Best screenplay

Manual of Love - Ugo Chiti, Giovanni Veronesi

La Febbre - Alessandro D'Alatri, Gennaro Nunziante e Domenico Starnone

Romanzo Criminale - Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Giancarlo DeCataldo, Michele Placido

Il Resto Di Niente - Giuseppe Rocca with Laura Sabatino andAntonietta De Lillo

Quo Vadis, Baby' - Gabriele Salvatores, Fabio Scamoni

Best actress

Asia Argento - TheHeart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Margherita Buy - I Giorni Dell'Abbandono

Valeria Golino - Texas

Giovanna Mezzogiorno - Don't Tell

Katia Ricciarelli - La Seconda Notte Di Nozze

Best actor

Antonio Albanese - La Seconda Notte Di Nozze

Stefano Accorsi - Provincia Meccanica

Roberto Benigni - The Tiger And The Snow

Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria

- Romanzo Criminale

Luca Zingaretti - Alla Luce Del Sole, I Giorni Dell'Abbandono

Best supporting actress

Erica Blanc, Lisa Gastoni - Cuore sacro

Silvana De Santis - Tickets

Angela Finocchiaro - Don't Tell

Loretta Goggi - Gas

Angela Luce, Marisa Merlini - La Seconda Notte Di Nozze

Best supporting actor

Giuseppe Battiston - Don't Tell

Rodolfo Corsato - When You Were Born You Can't Hide

Riccardo Scamarcio - Texas, L'Uomo Perfetto

Gianmarco Tognazzi - Romanzo Criminale

Carlo Verdone - Manual Of Love

Cinematography

Cesare Accetta - Il Resto Di Niente

Luca Bigazzi - Romanzo Criminale

Fabio Cianchetti - The Tiger And The Snow

Pasquale Mari - La Passione Di Giosué l'Ebreo

Italo Petriccione - La Febbre, Quo Vadis, Baby'

Editor

Osvaldo Bergero - La Febbre

Esmeralda Calabria - Romanzo criminale

Claudio Di Mauro - Manual Of Love

Roberto Missiroli - Saimir

Cecilia Zanuso - Don't Tell

Best director of a foreign film

Tim Burton - The Corpse Bride

George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck

Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby

Michael Haneke - Hidden

Ron Howard - Cinderella Man

Jim Jarmusch - Broken Flowers

Hayao Miyazaki - Howl's Moving Castle

Marc Rothemund - Sophie Scholl

Martin Scorsese - The Aviator