Italian
Appointment on September 5th in Capo Vaticano, Calabria, for the announcement of the winner.
In the final Gabriele Cavallini, Nikolaj Gory, Giulio Silvano, Beatrice Pera, and Marina Zucchelli. The ceremony will take place in the garden of Giuseppe Berto’s estate, on the Costa degli Dei.
Rome, July 10, 2026 – Gabriele Cavallini, Leather (Einaudi); Nikolaj Gory, The Chair Caner (Meltemi); Giulio Silvano, They Won (Frassinelli); Beatrice Pera, Gleams (Einaudi); Marina Zucchelli, Milk (Rizzoli). These are the five finalists of the XXXIII edition of the “Giuseppe Berto” Literary Prize, one of the most prestigious Italian awards dedicated to previously published debut works of fiction.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 5, during the awards ceremony conducted by journalist Giancarlo Loquenzi, scheduled to take place in the garden of Giuseppe Berto’s estate, overlooking the Costa degli Dei, in Capo Vaticano, in the Municipality of Ricadi (VV). After last year’s edition held in Mogliano Veneto, the Prize returns to Calabria, confirming its traditional alternation between the two places that most vividly narrate the writer’s biography: the land where he was born and the one he chose as his “buen retiro” and home for much of his life. The evening’s godmother will be, as per tradition, Antonia Berto, daughter of the writer and guardian of his literary legacy.
The finalists were selected by the jury of the Prize, chaired by the writer and literary critic Emanuele Trevi, winner of the Strega Prize 2021 and one of the leading experts on the works of Giuseppe Berto, which also included Silvia Avallone, Luigi Mascheroni, Elena Stancanelli, and Emanuele Zinato.
“This year’s shortlist presents a particularly vivid image of debut Italian narrative. The novels are very different from each other, but united by the ability to tell the fractures of the present without ever yielding to simplifications. Through stories of families, memory, motherhood, discomfort, work, and identity, these authors demonstrate how literature can still interrogate reality with depth, relying on the strength of writing more than on the topicality of themes. It is a narrative that does not seek easy effects, but builds, book after book, a space of authentic expressive research”, comments the jury president Emanuele Trevi.
The winner will be awarded a cash prize of 5,000 euros, while each of the other four finalists will receive a participation fee of 500 euros.
The “Giuseppe Berto” Literary Prize is organized by the Giuseppe Berto Cultural Association, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ricadi and the Municipality of Mogliano Veneto, thanks to the support of the partners who have been accompanying the event for years.
