The 49th “Val di Comino” literary prize at the Teatro Comunale d’Alvito. Founded way back in 1976 by the writer Gerardo Vacana, the award, considered among the most important Italian literary awards, reaches the milestone of forty-nine editions this year. At the Theatre, fully organized by the “Val di Comino” Study Center and the municipal administration of Alvito, the event is renewed today. “The prestige of a literary recognition – underlines the founder Gerardo Vacana – is all in the choice of the winners, but not only. The greatest Italian writers have passed through here, all in some way remaining linked to the territory and to the initiatives of the Study Center. An event linked like few others to the Val di Comino and Ciociaria, created precisely with the aim of promoting it and safeguarding its beauty”.
Leafing through the event’s roll of honor, the names of Luzi, Zanzotto, Sanguineti, Lamarque, Raboni, Baldacci, Solonovich, Risset appear, among others, but also Alberto Bevilacqua, Giancarlo Giannini, Giorgio Albertazzi, Lina Sastri, Angela Luce , Violante and Michele Placido, Silvio Muccino and many others. Today the winners of the 2024 edition were applauded. For poetry Giuseppe Napolitano, with the volume La vita bella (Ali Ribelli, Marina di Minturno); for literary non-fiction Tarcisio Tarquini, for his entire work and Angelo D’Orsi, with Gramsci La Biografia (Feltrinelli, Milan); for philosophical essays Biagio Cacciola, for his entire work and Pietro Salvucci with Uomo, Persona. Philosophical-anthropological characteristics (Arbor SapientiaE, Rome); for historical non-fiction Don Luigi Mancini, with The Saints and the places of worship dedicated to them (Edizioni Confronto, Fondi); for local history Domenico Cedrone, with Tre Sandonatesi Illustri (Luigi Cellucci, Giustino Quadrini, Donato Cucchi – F&C Edizioni, Arezzo); for journalism Maria Cristina Cusumano, Radio Rai, and Giorgia Sodaro of Adnkronos.
The “Val di Comino” jury, chaired by Giovanna Ioli, includes Marcello Carlino and Maddalena Vacana. The award as always, after the awards ceremony and a recital given by Dionisio Paglia, concluded the evening with an honorary concert by Carlia Arciero, Giacomo Cellucci and Fabio Viglietta.