Background
Davoli was born in Pentone, Calabria.
Davoli was born in Pentone, Calabria.
He was discovered by poet, novelist and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who had begun a relationship with Davoli, then a 15-year-old boy, in 1963. Pasolini considered him to be "the great love of his life," whom he later cast in his 1966 film Uccellacci e uccellini (literally Bad Birds and Little Birds but translated in English as The Hawks and the Sparrows), co-starred with celebrated comic Totò, Pasolini became the youth"s mentor and friend. "Even though their sexual relations lasted only a few years, Ninetto continued to live with Pasolini and was his constant companion, as well as appearing in six more of his films." First cast in a non-speaking role in the film Il vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to Street Matthew, 1964), Davoli played mostly comical-naïve roles in several more of Pasolini"s films, the last of which was Il fiore delle Mille e una Notte (A Thousand and One Nights/Arabian Nights, 1974).
After Pasolini"s death in 1975, Davoli turned increasingly to television productions.
In May 2015 Davoli was announced as recipient of a special Nastro d"Argento Career Award.