Giuseppe Antonelli, with Alfabit (Il Mulino); Miguel Gotor with The Murder of Piersanti Mattarella (Einaudi); Tonia Mastrobuoni, with La Peste Indagine on the right in Germany (Feltrinelli); Beatrice Mautino with Vertigo (Mondadori); Alessandro Vanoli with Oriente Una storia (Laterza): they are the five finalists of the second edition of the Strega Saggistica award. The five were announced this morning in Taormina as part of Taobuk, the Taormina International Book festival which together with the Strega Bellonci Foundation organizes the Prize, created last year and awarded to Anna Foa with The Suicide of Israel. The authors spoke with Corriere della Sera journalist Eva Giovannini.
The meeting was introduced by the president and artistic director of Taobuk Antonella Ferrara, who underlined the value of non-fiction as a tool through which to reflect on current events without being overwhelmed by them. Giovanni Solimine, president of the Goffredo and Maria Bellonci Foundation, underlined the informative value of the chosen essays to a wide audience, thanking the scientific committee. Stefano Petrocchi, director of the Foundation, concluded. Lorena Di Vita from BPER spoke.
The Scientific Committee chaired by Solimine is made up of Antonella Ferrara, Carlo Felice Casula, Alfonso Celotto, Simonetta Fiori, Anna Foa, Paolo Giordano, Francesca Mannocchi, Nico Pitrelli, Lucrezia Reichlin, Matteo Motolese, Nino Rizzo Nervo, Melania Mazzucco.
The promoting committee also decided to award the 2026 International Non-fiction Strega Prize to Luciano Floridi, one of the most authoritative voices in contemporary philosophy, author among other things of the essays «The fundamental difference. Artificial Agency: a new philosophy of artificial intelligence” (translated by Massimo Durante, Mondadori 2025) and “The ethical knot. Information and values in the digital society” (again edited by Massimo Durante, Raffaello Cortina Editore 2026).
«In these, as in other previous works, the philosopher offers a contribution of exceptional relevance to those who really want to learn to understand and use new digital technologies with clarity. His works constitute a turning point in philosophical reflection on a sector that represents a decisive challenge for the future of knowledge.”
The award to prof. Floridi, a philosopher of digital ethics of which he is a staunch popularizer, will be presented on November 18th in Rome, during the award ceremony of the Strega Award and the Strega Saggistica Award.