The national literary prize «Mesoraca in Festival – Messurga Opera Prima» was awarded to Nicolàs Rapetti for the non-fiction section, named after Filippo Falbo, poet, writer, painter and intellectual from Mesoraca who passed away in Turin five years ago. Nicolàs Rapetti, author of the book «Neither oblivion nor forgiveness. Argentina 1976-2026″ (Laterza), reconstructs fifty years of Argentine history, from the 1976 coup d’état to the most recent challenges posed by the return of denialism.
On March 24, 1976, a military coup established one of the most ferocious dictatorships in Latin America in Argentina: 30,000 disappeared, thousands of exiles and political prisoners. Rapetti, connecting from Argentina, recalled how the Madres and Abuelas of Plaza de Mayo, initially alone, “the crazy people of the square”, built a model of resistance, whose imagination, creativity and, above all, courage fueled new forms of action in Argentine politics: a collective and peaceful movement, capable of transforming private pain into political struggle. This civil rights movement managed, through a decades-long struggle, to obtain justice and punish criminals who seemed untouchable, making “juicio y castigo” possible: the Argentine courts pronounced 360 sentences, convicted 1,237 people and identified over 800 clandestine detention centers. And 140 grandchildren, taken from their missing parents, were able to find their true identity.
This model of integral justice has proven to be the most complete form of reparation and verification of the truth. Based on official sources, archival documents and direct testimonies, Rapetti’s book offers an overview of a long journey towards truth and justice.
Second, ex aequo, Cristina Giuntini with «Rebra- Musica sulle ribs» (Vololibero editions) and Giovanni Marconi with «A new idea of the country. From probable decline to possible rebirth” (Rubbettino). President of the jury is Prof. Giuseppe Iannaccone, president, since June 2025, of the Center for books and reading, an independent institute of the Ministry of Culture, while prof. Francesco Grano is the artistic director of the Mesoraca in Festival, entirely financed with municipal funds.
