Witch Award 2022, won by Mario Desiati- Corriere.it

A version without tremors, except for the heavy rain that initially forced everyone under the arcades at the Nymphaeum of Villa Giulia. Even wet baptism for Mario Desiati, who wins the Witch Award 2022 with expatriate (Enaudi). The writer, who has been named the favourite since the semi-finals in Benevento, wins the podium 11 years after his first promotion in the five competition founded by Maria and Giuffredo Bellonci in 1947: at that time, he participated in the novel trinity (Mondadori).

Confirmation came after midnight in the courtyard Etruscan National Museum in Rome, When Giuseppe Davino, president of Strega Alberti Benevento, the company that has supported Strega since its first release, was declared the winner. Desiati did not drink as per tradition, Strega liqueur directly on TV In front of the billboard: ‘I will leave this bottle as it is – he said -. I will drink it in Puglia, in memory of an earthly book, starting with Maria Theresa de Leaves, which she won in 1995 and could not withdraw because she died a few months earlier. I would open it near status Alessandro Leograndi, Who is a friend of mine: We were going to drink it together ».

Desiati won by a clear margin: 76 votes in second place, Claudio Bersanti with That damn Vronsky (Rizzoli). Votes of those entitled to take a seat in the presidency Emmanuel Trevi, Winner of the 2021 Strega Prize (81% of the 400 Amici della Domenica, the historical core of the jury, of 220 Italian and foreign scholars, translators and thinkers selected by Italian cultural institutes abroad, 40 strong readers and collective votes). Clear. Out of a total of 537 votes, Desiati received 166 votes; Bersanti 90 votes; Alessandra CaratiAnd the Then we will be safe (Mondadori) 83 votes; Veronica RaimoAnd the Nothing is real (Enaudi) 62 votes Marco EmergeAnd the stray (Bulati Borengiri) 61 votes; Fabio BacaAnd the Nova (Adelphi) 51 votes; Veronica Galeta Nina on the bridge(Min. facsimile) 24. Veronica Raimo also received the already winning Strega Giovani Award Off witch.

In the evening he presented it Jebe Kochari Initially under the umbrella of the challenge between expatriate And the That damn Vronsky, in the last few minutes, but the result was widely expected. “The comparison with the other authors was sensational—eye makeup, complete with Valentino, white silk shirt, baguette, rainbow boots and a fan—because one writes to arouse suspicion rather than to give answers,” said Deciate. He who lived among Apulia and Berlin (Today he is in Rome, but often returns to Germany) In his novel, he recounts the growth of two sons “escaping stereotypes and social pressure”, planted abroad but rejecting “the lament of the diaspora”, who invites them not to underestimate the “seeds of hair, intertwining our roots, Our inner world. The common theme of the two books is the difficult existence, at a young age as well as in old age, of the protagonists of the novel: “In my first book, I told of Italians who emigrated in search of work and fell ill – explained Desciati -, because Italy is one of the Countries from which people migrate the most; In this, I tried to represent young people who are looking for wealth outside their family environment, and who are on the run. And they can fail. Those who by choice or by fate do not embody the winning social models of our society, yet do not represent a lost generation for this.”

for him “Expatriates” Francesco and Claudia Growing up together and chasing each other between Apulia and Berlin, back and forth, “bifurcated and turbulent” young men in search of a balance that never materializes, driven by a grueling will to find themselves and a place in the world, but held back by their own doubts. While in Bersanti’s beautiful book, the tale of a tight-knit couple, despite love, succumbs to the blackmail of illness and then rediscovers a clear but fleeting serenity, managing to move those approaching the age of three with fear and hope.

It was a rediscovered engagement evening. With the audience of great events and thousands of spectators to follow the live broadcast on RaiTre there was also a tribute to Rafael La Capria, who passed away on June 26, and who won in 1961 with just one vote, with He was fatally wounded“La Capria was a master of lightness and I like to remember him with his sly, stately smile,” said director Roberto Ando.

In the selection that led last June 8 in Benevento to “The Week” – which led to the final and, for the first time in Strega history, seven authors instead of the usual five – the balance was already evident in the count of votes: In the semi-finals, Desiati was given to the super favorites, With 244 preferences a expatriate and an advantage of 66 over the second ranked, Bersanti (178), separated by only three points from the third, Marco Amerighi (175) who with stray First brought to Strega Bollati Boringhieri.

What remains of the Strega Prize for those who have already managed to read the novels of the seven finalists? There is a feeling of giving up Grief over the suffering of others, despair over persistent family misunderstandings. Only by lying, knowing how to invent a different existence and perhaps never lived, one can escape life’s setbacks and acts of sabotage by the closest relatives, Raimo seems to tell us: Nothing is real. However, in this sea of ​​missed opportunities and wrong turns sliding doors Which opens to the gray future, and prevents living in dignity and serenity, there are those who find the strength to survive: those who reinvest the pain of the evil of living in fiery passions.