The winner of the 23rd edition of the Elio Vittorini National Literary Award is Simona Lo Iacono from Syracuse with “Virdimura” (Guanda editrice).. Last night at the Teatro Massimo in Syracuse the closing ceremony of the award named after the Syracusan writer who has seen a series of records set: Simona Lo Iacono is the first Syracusan to win the Vittorini and among other things she enters her name in the Award’s registers for the second time, having won the “first work” section in 2008. Furthermore, for the fifth consecutive time, since the Award restarted in 2020, a woman has won.
Simona Lo Iacono, magistrate serving in Catania, this is her ninth novel. This time he chose to tell a true story, describing the first woman in history to receive the “license to cure” which until then had been a privilege only for men. In 13th century Catania, a Jewish girl, Virdimura, learns, accompanying her doctor father, how to cure bodies and how to help the sick, and especially the poor, not to feel only prey to desperation. Iacono is able to shed a light on the problems of Sicily at that time that leads to moments of true emotion, through a simple and at the same time imaginative language, the language of poetry. Giving the portrait of an unforgettable protagonist, proud and courageous, who fights superstitions and the laws of men to affirm the right of everyone to be cured and of women to be free.
The selection of the winning work was made by the Evaluation Commission chaired by Professor Antonio Di Grado: the vote of each of the members was added to that of the College of Strong Readers identified among the reading enthusiasts reported by the libraries of the area, the participating bookshops and the Dante Alighieri Society. Lo Iacono prevailed over Chiara Mezzalama with Le nostre perdute foresta (Edizioni e/o) and Alberto Riva with Ultima estate a Roccamare (Neri Pozza). The winning work received a check for 3 thousand euros while the two finalists received a check for one thousand euros each.
During the evening, the “Arnaldo Lombardi” Independent Publishing Award was also assigned to the independent publishing house Lussografica led by Salvatore Granata, president of the Sicilian publishers. Lussografica has been operating in Caltanissetta for over 90 years and is a sure point of reference for the historical and literary culture of Sicily. Its rich and substantial catalog presents various series aimed at enhancing places, figures and moments of Sicilian culture.
On stage to do the honors and to award the prize were the president of the cultural association Vittorini-Quasimodo Enzo Papa and the councilor for Culture of Syracuse Fabio Granata. The event was coordinated by the secretary general of the Award, Aldo Mantineo.
The actress from Syracuse Carmelinda Gentile, involved in a civic engagement project that combines her passion for theater with support for those fighting cancer, was awarded an Active Citizenship recognition.
Yesterday evening was the epilogue of a Settimana Vittoriniana that saw conversations with writers, shows and also the traditional trial of Vittorini who was acquitted. At the centre of the trial was the relationship between politics and culture that saw Vittorini bitterly arguing with Togliatti between 1946 and 1947 with articles in the pages of Rinascita and the Politecnico. The acquittal was pronounced by the president, the lawyer Sebastiano Grimaldi, who in his motivation noted «the validity of the defences explained by Vittorini, who, to use the same terminological arguments of the accused, although condemned by the “tribunal of politics” to close the magazine “Il Politecnico” in the year 1947, is today acquitted by this Jury, after almost eighty years, with a decision rendered with an almost unanimous verdict by what we will call the “tribunal of history”». Supporting the reasons of the Prosecution was Prof. Rosario Mangiameli while to make the reasons of Vittorini triumph, prof. Antonio Di Grado who focused «on the defense of the autonomy of culture with respect to the instrumental claims of politics». Leading the vote of the popular jury was the blogger Giuseppe Gingolph Costa.
The Elio Vittorini National Literary Award is promoted by the Vittorini-Quasimodo cultural association with the Department of Culture of Syracuse, in collaboration with the Inda Foundation, the Free Municipal Consortium of Syracuse and with the patronage of the Regional Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity.