The Strega Prize ( ) is the most important Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published between 1 March of the previous year and 28/29 February.

History In 1944 Maria and Goffredo Bellonci started to host a literary salon at their home in Rome. These Sunday gatherings of writers, artists and intellectuals grew to include many of the most notable figures of Italian cultural life. The group became known as the Amici della Domenica, or Sunday Friends. In 1947 the Belloncis, together with Guido Alberti, owner of the firm which produces the Strega liqueur, decided to inaugurate a prize for fiction, the winner being chosen by the Sunday friends.

The activities of the Bellonci circle and the institution of the prize were seen as marking a tentative return to ‘normality’ in Italian cultural life: a feature of the reconstruction which followed the years of Fascism, war, occupation and liberation.

The first winner of the Strega, elected by the Sunday Friends, was Ennio Flaiano, for his first and only novel Tempo di uccidere, which is set in Africa during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. It has been translated into English as A Time to Kill and The Short Cut.

Maria Bellonci published a history of the Strega prize, titled Come un racconto gli anni del premio Strega, in 1971.

Selection process Since the death of Maria Bellonci in 1986, the prize has been administered by the Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci. The members of the now 400-strong prize jury, drawn from Italy’s cultural elite, are still known as the Sunday Friends. For a book to be considered, it must have the support of at least two Friends. This initial long list is whittled down at a first ballot to a short list of five. The second round of voting, followed by the proclamation of the victor, takes place on the first Thursday in July in the nymphaeum of the Villa Giulia, Rome.

Sponsorship Liquore Strega sponsors the prize, awarding 5.000 euro to the victor.

Premio Strega speciale, 2006 In 2006, the sixtieth year of the Strega Prize, a special award was made to the Constitution of Italy, a document which was drawn up and approved in 1946, the year of the Strega’s inauguration. The award was received by former President of the Italian Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.

Winners 1947 – Ennio Flaiano, Tempo di uccidere 1948 – Vincenzo Cardarelli, Villa Tarantola 1949 – Giambattista Angioletti, La memoria 1950 – Cesare Pavese, La bella estate 1951 – Corrado Alvaro, Quasi una vita 1952 – Alberto Moravia, I racconti 1953 – Massimo Bontempelli, L'amante fedele 1954 – Mario Soldati, Lettere da Capri 1955 – Giovanni Comisso, Un gatto attraversa la strada 1956 – Giorgio Bassani, Cinque storie ferraresi 1957 – Elsa Morante, L'isola di Arturo 1958 – Dino Buzzati, Sessanta racconti 1959 – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il gattopardo 1960 – Carlo Cassola, La ragazza di Bube 1961 – Raffaele La Capria, Ferito a morte 1962 – Mario Tobino, Il clandestino 1963 – Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare 1964 – Giovanni Arpino, L'ombra delle colline 1965 – Paolo Volponi, La macchina mondiale 1966 – Michele Prisco, Una spirale di nebbia 1967 – Anna Maria Ortese, Poveri e semplici 1968 – Alberto Bevilacqua, L'occhio del gatto 1969 – Lalla Romano, Le parole tra noi leggere 1970 – Guido Piovene, Le stelle fredde 1971 – Raffaello Brignetti, La spiaggia d'oro 1972 – Giuseppe Dessì, Paese d'ombre 1973 – Manlio Cancogni, Allegri, gioventù 1974 – Guglielmo Petroni, La morte del fiume 1975 – Tommaso Landolfi, A caso 1976 – Fausta Cialente, Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger 1977 – Fulvio Tomizza, La miglior vita 1978 – Ferdinando Camon, Un altare per la madre 1979 – Primo Levi, La chiave a stella 1980 – Vittorio Gorresio, La vita ingenua 1981 – Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa 1982 – Goffredo Parise, Il sillabario n.2 1983 – Mario Pomilio, Il Natale del 1833 1984 – Pietro Citati, Tolstoj 1985 – Carlo Sgorlon, L'armata dei fiumi perduti 1986 – Maria Bellonci, Rinascimento privato 1987 – Stanislao Nievo, Le isole del paradiso 1988 – Gesualdo Bufalino, Le menzogne della notte 1989 – Giuseppe Pontiggia, La grande sera 1990 – Sebastiano Vassalli, La chimera 1991 – Paolo Volponi, La strada per Roma 1992 – Vincenzo Consolo, Nottetempo, casa per casa 1993 – Domenico Rea, Ninfa plebea 1994 – Giorgio Montefoschi, La casa del padre 1995 – Mariateresa Di Lascia, Passaggio in ombra 1996 – Alessandro Barbero, Bella vita e guerre altrui di Mr. Pyle, 'gentiluomo''' 1997 – Claudio Magris, Microcosmi 1998 – Enzo Siciliano, I bei momenti 1999 – Dacia Maraini, Buio 2000 – Ernesto Ferrero, N. 2001 – Domenico Starnone, Via Gemito 2002 – Margaret Mazzantini, Non ti muovere 2003 – Melania Mazzucco, Vita2004 – Ugo Riccarelli, Il dolore perfetto 2005 – Maurizio Maggiani, Il viaggiatore notturno 2006 – Sandro Veronesi, Caos calmo2007 – Niccolò Ammaniti, Come Dio comanda2008 – Paolo Giordano, La solitudine dei numeri primi2009 – Tiziano Scarpa, Stabat Mater2010 – Antonio Pennacchi, Canale Mussolini2011 – Edoardo Nesi, Storia della mia gente2012 – Alessandro Piperno, Inseparabili2013 – Walter Siti, Resistere non serve a niente2014 – Francesco Piccolo, Il desiderio di essere come tutti2015 – Nicola Lagioia, La Ferocia2016 – Edoardo Albinati, La scuola cattolica2017 – Paolo Cognetti, Le otto montagne2018 – Helena Janeczek, La ragazza con la Leica 2019 – Antonio Scurati, M. Il figlio del secolo2020 – Sandro Veronesi, Il colibrì2021 – Emanuele Trevi, Due vite2022 – Mario Desiati, Spatriati2023 – Ada D'Adamo, Come d'aria2024 – Donatella Di Pietrantonio, 2025 – Andrea Bajani, L'anniversario2026 - Michele Mari, I convitati di pietra''

References

External links Sito ufficiale del Premio Strega Italian Literary Prize Celebrates 50th Anniversary, Library of Congress The Strega Prize, from the Strega Alberti company , (The official short biographies of the 11 finalists in the 2006 edition).