The Caccuri Prize to the philosopher Massimo Cacciari

John

By John

There XII edition of the Caccuri Literary Prizededicated to Italian non-fiction, ended with the victory of Massimo Cacciari with «Paradise and Shipwreck» (Einaudi). In second place, tied for merit, the other three finalists: Lidia Ravera with «Age Pride. To free us from prejudices about age» (Einaudi), Gaia Tortora with «Head up, and forward» (Mondadori) and Marcello Veneziani with «Discontenti. Because we don’t like the world we live in» (Marsilio).

The event ended with a greeting to Michela Murgia, «a free voice that will be missed by all of us»said Alberto Matano, who hosted the final evening with Roberta Morise.

Great success for the international program that made Caccuri an agora, encouraging the promotion of the territory and the discovery of historical-archaeological beauties. Philosophical reflection and the adoption of the hermeneutic technique are the basis of Massimo Cacciari’s essay. There are works that perform the “miracle” of the transformation of pathos into knowledge, and of the more exact and even ruthless knowledge of reality which they represent in authentic wisdom around the insurmountable contradictions and aporias of our existence, wisdom that transcends all limits of time and culture.

“Today the villains are the demagogues – said the philosopher, starting from a reflection on Musil and his ‘man without qualities’ – we are in the season of lame demagogues, they lead no one, they lead to abstention”. Then, on the war in Ukraine, Cacciari spoke of the substantial failure of «a European policy that acted as a bridge between the great empires. Europe had to carry out this function of peace, of pact, in the Latin sense, between the great imperial spaces». The winner and the finalists received the “Torre d’argento”, a real symbol of the event, forged by the master goldsmith Michele Affidato.

The four essays, selected by the Scientific Committee chaired by Giordano Bruno Guerri, are voted on by a popular and national jury. Special awards were also assigned for fiction, journalism, music, economics and, more generally, entertainment. Domenico Dara, the writer originally from Girifalco and an important voice in national literature with his “Malinverno” (Feltrinelli) received the Narrative Award. Vinicio Marchioni, one of the most appreciated Italian actors by directors and critics, was awarded the Literature and Cinema Award. To Stefania Battistini, TG1 correspondent on the Ukrainian front, the Journalism and Literature Award for the book “The unjust war” (Piemme). Literature and music prize to Diodato as special guest of the final evening, to Barbara Gallavotti the honorary citizenship of Caccuri, a village of culture.

The program of the XII edition combined literature, music and food and wine with a view to contamination between local and global and to promote tourism in the area with the participation of Toquinho and Camilla Faustino, ​ Enzo Gragnaniello, ​ Ale and Franz, Raffaello Tullo, Carlo Amleto, Domenico Iannacone, Fulvio Cama, Daniele Castrizio and Saverio Autelliano, Carlo Piano, Paolo Di Giannantonio, Nicola Gratteri, Daniela Tagliafico and many other guests during the five days, organized by the Caccuriani Academy, with the founding members Adolfo Barone, Roberto De Candia and Olimpio Talarico.