ROME: Palme d’Or winning director Ermanno Olmi has died at the age of 86 after a long battle with illness, the Italian Culture Ministry announced on Monday.

The Italian director, most famous for his film “The Tree of Wooden Clogs” which won at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978, passed away in Asiago, near Venice. He had long suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a muscle-weakening condition that can immobilise people for extended periods of time.—AFP