ROME – At the National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia, Mario Desiati won the Strega Prize on Thursday with his novel “Spatriati” (Einaudi). 

 Mario Desiati, the 76^th winner of the prize, was handed his award by Giuseppe D’Avino, president of the Strega Alberti Benevuti company that has supported the organisation of the literary award since its first edition. 

 The evening was broadcasted live on Rai 3 television, hosted by Geppi Cucciari. Emanuele Trevi, winner of the Premio Strega 2021, presided over the voting panel.

 Speakers included Giovanni Solimine and Stefano Petrocchi, respectively president and director of the Bellonci Foundation, Lorenzo Tagliavanti and Pietro Abate, respectively president and secretary general of the Rome Chamber of Commerce, whose action has always sought to create a territorial context with a high level of creative and cultural vitality: an action that takes concrete form in supporting the most important cultural initiatives such as the Strega Prize.

 During the event, Flavia Mazzarella, president of BPER Banca, presented the finalist authors with a sculpture by the young Ukrainian artist Taras Halaburda. The artist was a student at the Sassari Academy of Fine Arts and winner of the fifth edition of the ideas competition organised by BPER Banca for the creation of a sculpture inspired by the craft of writing and the importance of promoting reading. The sculpture is a bronze typewriter with the keys bearing the words Premio Strega.

 The total number of votes cast, 537 (equal to about 81.4% of those eligible), led to victory for Mario Desiati's novel, “Spatriati” (Einaudi), who won with 166 votes. Claudio Piersanti, “Quel maledetto Vronskij” (Rizzoli) with 90 votes; Alessandra Carati, “E poi saremo salvi” (Mondadori) with 83 votes; Veronica Raimo, “Niente di vero” (Einaudi) with 62 votes; Marco Amerighi, “Randagi” (Bollati Boringhieri) with 61 votes; Fabio Bacà, “Nova” (Adelphi) with 51 votes; and Veronica Galletta, “Nina sull'argine” (Minimum Fax) with 24 votes.

 The jury includes  400 people from “Amici della domenica” , as well as 220 votes from Italian and international scholars, translators and intellectuals selected from over 30 Italian Cultural Institutes abroad, 20 apt readers and 20 collective votes expressed by schools, universities and reading groups, including the circles established at the Libraries of Rome.

 Among the new jurors, who this year joined the “Amici della Domenica”, are the writers Andrea Bajani, Donatella Di Pietrantonio, Claudia Durastanti, the journalist and writer Giovanni Grasso, the journalist and writer Simonetta Sciandivasci, Teresa Cremisi and Roberto Colajanni, respectively president and editorial director of the publishing house Adelphi, Francesco Anzelmo, editorial director of Mondadori, and Chiara Sbarigia, president of Cinecittà.

 The winner will be a guest in various Italian locations that are particularly active in promoting reading. These are the stages: 8 July Lonato del Garda, Fondazione Ugo da Como; 12 July Rome, Letterature Festival, Stadio Palatino; 22 July Vieste, Festival Il libro possibile; 29 July Marciana Marina (Elba Island); 7 August Lecce, Chiostro degli Agostiniani; 13 August Cortina, Una montagna di libri; 25-31 August Benevento Città Spettacolo.

 The image that accompanied the 76^th edition was created by Olimpia Zagnoli, an artist of international renown: “I imagined a contemporary witch who, in my interpretation, is an individual encompassing several identities. This multiplicity is emphasised by the lines of the drawing that, like a wave, create the solids and voids that contain her.”

 The 76^th edition of the Strega Prize was promoted by the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation and Liquore Strega with the contribution of the Rome Chamber of Commerce and in collaboration with BPER Banca, Rai Media Partner, technical sponsor IBS.it.

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