Piero Tosi, Who Outfitted Stars of Italian Films, Dies at 92

Piero Tosi, a costume designer whose careful research and intuitive eye were prized by leading Italian directors like Vittorio De Sica, Mauro Bolognini and especially Luchino Visconti, died on Saturday in Rome. He was 92.

The Franco Zeffirelli Foundation announced his death on Facebook. Mr. Zeffirelli, who died in June, and Mr. Tosi had been friends since their student days in Florence, Italy.

Mr. Tosi dressed some of the biggest stars of the day — Sophia Loren, Maria Callas, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Burt Lancaster. He was nominated for the costume design Oscar five times — for the Visconti films “The Leopard” (1963), “Death in Venice” (1971) and “Ludwig” (1973); for Édouard Molinaro’s “La Cage Aux Folles” (1979), sharing the nomination with Ambra Danon; and for Mr. Zeffirelli’s “La Traviata” (1982).

Although he never won that prize, in 2013 he did receive an Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, the first costume designer to do so. The citation called him “a visionary whose incomparable costume designs shaped timeless, living art in motion pictures.”