Between the pouring rain and various audio problems that have created not a little agitation for the presenter Geppi Cucciari, who managed to survive the evening thanks to the irony and intelligence of those who manage to turn an unexpected into an occasion, the seventy-sixth edition of the Prize Strega ended up, as expected, with the victory of Mario Desiati and his Spatriate, published by Einaudi. The novel, set in Martina Franca and dedicated to the friendship between a boy and a girl who chase each other, break up and find each other, has won over with 166 votes and a detachment from the runner-up Claudio Piersanti (That damned Vronsky, Rizzoli) of 76 preferences. «I dedicate this recognition to Mariateresa Di Leave, who won here in 1995, from Puglia like me, and to all the workers in the Italian publishing industry. Passion is not enough, you need a real contract “, said Desiati at the moment of victory. exceptionally renouncing the classic ritual photo with the bottle of Strega liqueur near the mouth to be able to uncork it away from the cameras, «close to where Alessando Leogrande is now», the writer friend who died in 2017 at the age of forty.
Beyond the theme of the novel, it is as if he won the Premio Strega with Mario Desiati a fluid, restless and free generation that the author wanted to pay tribute through a black collar, a rainbow rosette inside the jacket pocket and a pink fan that attracted the attention of those present. Beyond the Spatriatewhich, as the author explained, represent all illegal immigrants, that is, those who have a home but feel the urge to leave it, the ranking of the Premio Strega 2022 has seen, as we said, Piersanti in second position; third Alessandra Carati with And then we’ll be safe (Mondadori, 83 votes); fourth Veronica Raimo with Nothing true (Einaudi), winner of the Strega Giovani Prize; fifth Marco Amerighi with Stray (Bollati Boringhieri, Gems group, 61 votes), sixth Fabio Bacà with the wonderful Nova (Adelphi, 51 votes) and last Veronica Galletta with Nina on the embankment (minimun fax, 24 votes). An unprecedented final, that of Premio Strega number 76, given that it was the first time that seven writers competed because the Benevento semifinal ended with a ex aequo and a repechage of an independent publisher.
However, it was above all to win the evening together with Desiati Geppi Cucciari that, in addition to reminding us of the live show in which Mara Venier and Katia Ricciarelli scolded the members of the orchestra for having abandoned their station so as not to get wet, conducted the Premio Strega 2022 as well as the one in 2021: breaking the ceremonial, deconstructing a world from the inside, that of Italian publishing, which especially in recent years has struggled not a little to find a way to be captivating on television. Cucciari found it, and the answer was irony. After having made fun of the empty tables in the courtyard of Villa Giulia – “We were seized by the public” – and on the white chalk that he was unable to take root on the black chalkboard on which the votes collected by the candidates for the Prize have always been noted- “Who won the plaster contract this year?” – Cucciari, who this autumn will have a program of her own on Rai2, has proved to be a professional of rare skill, one of the very few who knows how to provoke a laugh using the weapon of culture and intelligence, always very far from any form of vulgarity. The interviews with the candidates arrived straight because they were full of curiosities, as well as his columns, in particular the one that saw the bathers of Cesenatico as protagonists who were asked to imagine the plot of the books competing for the Award starting only from the cover. This is what culture needs now: freshness, spontaneity and insight. Let the directors of the network and publishers take note.
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Source: Vanity Fair
