VENICE- Italian author Giorgio Fontana has been awarded the Campiello literary prize for his novel “Morte di un Uomo felice” (The Death of a Happy Man).

The ceremony, sponsored by Prosecco producers Conegliano Valdobbiadene, took place Saturday at the beautiful Fenice theatre in the centre of Venice. This year saw Fontana triumph against a host of better-known authors, including Mauro Corona, Fausta Garavini, Michele Mari and Giorgio Falco. The prestigious award dates back to 1963, with past winners including Primo Levi and Rosetta Loy.

The president of sponsor company Conegliano Valdobbiadene, said “our sponsorship of this evening’s ceremony is the most recent of many initiatives we are involved with to support culture. In recent years we have invested so much in the arts and literature because we want our wine to be known as an expression of Italian art. An art which comes from an extraordinary landscape, a landscape now being considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.