After the sixth of 2020, which arrived in the year in which the pandemic had forced the organization of the Prize to restrict the tour and contiguous the entrances to the final of Villa Giulia, the Witch Prize of 2022 goes even further, bringing the beauty of seven novels to the final. It is the first time this has happened, but the explanation is soon said and linked to an ex-aequo of the fifth place and the addition of a seventh title which, by regulation, must be published by a medium-small publisher. “It’s a historic event, you can tell your children that you were there when the finalists were seven,” explained Stefano Petrocchi, welcoming a week that, numbers in hand, should already have an announced winner. It is about Mario Desiati which, with his Spatriatepublished by Einaudi, was the most voted of the evening, detaching Claudio Piersanti and its That damned Vronsky (Rizzoli) of 66 votes.
Third place for Marco Amerighi with Stray (Bollati Boringhieri, Gems group), followed by Veronica Raimo with Nothing true (Einaudi), former winner of the Strega Giovani Prize; from Fabio Bacà which, with its beautiful Nova, brought Adelphi back to the final of the Award after 33 years; from Alessandra Carati with And then we’ll be safe (Mondadori) and, finally, Veronica Galletta with Nina on the embankment (minimum fax), rescued, as we said, precisely by virtue of the regulation that, in 2020, allowed Fever by Jonathan Bazzi to compete in the final. At a guess it is evident that Mondadori can raise a sigh of relief in this round, competing, between Einaudi, Rizzoli and Mondadori, with the beauty of four titles after the surprising and unjust elimination of Teresa Ciabatti in 2021.
Out of the race Bompiani, with Open story by Davide Orecchio (Giunti group), Ponte alle Grazie, with Updated roadmap of all my kisses by Daniela Ranieri, and Feltrinelli, with Jana Karšaiová’s debut novel, Velvet divorce, even if, in principle, it is evident that the moods of the publishers are much more relaxed than in previous years, above all because in this round it seems that we have managed to have satisfied (almost) everyone. Despite to vote at the final on 7 July there will be, in addition to the 400 Amici della Domenica and the 30 Italian Cultural Institutes abroad, the victory should easily be in the hands of Desiati and his novel, to use a term dear to him, “spatriato”, linked to the story of two young people who chase each other from Puglia to Berlin to love each other in their own way. However, we always talk about the Strega Prize, and who knows if some surprises will not arrive at the last.
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Source: Vanity Fair
