Every year, Italy awards the Premio Campiello to an outstanding Italian-language work.

This year, the award went to Remo Rapino, for his book Vita, Morte, e Miracoli di Buonfiglio Liborio!

Remo Rapino, winner of the 2020 Premio Campiello.

The Premio Campiello began in 1962, with the first award being given in 1963 to Primo Levi. It was created as a way to celebrate Italian literature and has been expanded in recent years, namely with the Opera Prima and Il Campiello Giovane. These are awarded for the best debut work and best work by a young author (15-22 years old), respectively.

To narrow down which literary works will be considered for the award, a panel of experts will gather the titles of books published during the year and from there, choose five finalists. The finalists for the 2020 Premio Campiello included:

Con Passi Giapponesi, by Patrizia Cavalli. Click image for catalog link.

Tralummescuro. Ballata per un Paese al Tramonto, by Francesco Guccini

Sommersione, by Sandro Frizziero

L’incanto del Pesce Luna, by Ade Zeno

Vita, Morte e Miracoli di Bonfiglio Liborio, by Remo Rapino

After the finalists are selected, a jury of 300 individuals from all across Italy vote to determine which finalist will be given the award. This year, it went to Remo Rapino for Vita, Morte e Miracoli di Bonfiglio Libero. Additionally, Veronica Galletta’s novel, Le Isole di Norman was awarded the Premio Campiello–Opera Prima, for best debut work.

Previous winners of the Premio Campiello include Andrea Tarabbia’s novel, Madrigale Senza Suono, Rosella Postorino’s Le assaggiatrici, and Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s L’Arminuta. 

For more information on the Premio Campiello, click here (note: website is in Italian).