For the first time in the history of the Premio Strega , the 2022 edition will be a final with seven books, with Mario Desiati in first place with 244 votes with his “Spatriati” (Einaudi).

The vote on 8 June , for the second time at the Roman Theater of Benevento, conducted by Stefano Coletta and live streaming on Raiplay, surprised everyone with the surprise of two ex aequo in fifth place and a repechage in seventh.

It had already happened in 2020 that the five books were extended to six books by virtue of article 7 of the voting regulations, so if among the five there are only large publishers, the first of the authors published by a small and medium-sized publisher can be fished out. , but seven had never been reached.

Two Einaudi titles in the running for victory with Veronica Raimo entering fourth place and her non-educational novel "Niente di vero", 169 votes, already winner of the 2022 Strega Giovani Prize. Feltrinelli excluded with “Divorzio di velvet ”By Jana Karsaiova, a book Coletta says he fell in love with, Bompiani with Davide Orecchio's“ Open Story ”and Ponte alle Grazie with Daniela Ranieri's“ updated roadmap of all my kisses ”, in the Campiello five-story.

Desiati with its irregular characters, vagabonds, wanderers, uncertain, the "Spatriates" just like Francesco Veleno and Claudia Fanelli, the two Apulian boys from Martina Franca, protagonists of this fluid story, had long been given as superfavorite to the five who drive with a detachment of 66 votes from the second classified, Claudio Piersanti with “Quel cursed Vronskij” (Rizzoli), 178 votes, and it is also for the sprint to the final victory. But he says: "It's a game. I have been in the publishing world for twenty years and I know that it is always all day by day. I am happy that after more than a year Spatriati are still there. I strongly believe in foresight. Spatriati is a seed within us all. It is a word that in my dialect means irregular. A negative word from someone who has gone astray. It's a story of light and shadow that all writers have to deal with. Sometimes we are afraid of shadows and instead we have to get to know them and make them friends "explains the 45-year-old writer from Martina Franca who at the end of the evening is overwhelmed by requests for autographs.

"In 2015, when I started writing this book, I realized that I was leaving. I feel more of a reader than a writer. Literature is the salvation of my life. When we read a book, there is always something intangible" underlines the author of " Spatriates ". For the other authors and books of the dozen up to the last, it was not possible to hypothesize a toto-five that eventually expanded to seven books. Second place was not taken for granted for Claudio Piersanti who in "Quel cursed Vronskij" tells the story of a typographer, Giovanni, who does not give up at the end of a love affair, suddenly goodbye of his wife Giulia, with whom he has been together since adolescence . And not even the third for Marco Amerighi who in "Randagi" (Bollati Boringhieri), 175 votes, tells of a generation displaced by the awareness of living the decline and the story of a family hit by a curse that sooner or later all males disappear. Fabio Bacà with "Nova" (Adelphi), 168 votes, also in the five of the Campiello Prize 2022, shares the appreciation for his history of violence and knowledge of the other protagonist the neurosurgeon Davide, ex aequo with Alessandra Carati and her " And then we will be safe ”(Mondadori), 168 votes, which speaks of the difficult dimension of those who have to find roots in a country through the story of Aida, a Bosnian refugee who escapes with her family to Italy at the age of six.

Fished out "Nina sull'argine", (minimum fax) 103 votes, by Veronica Galletta where we find the Sicilian Caterina confronted with an environment and a job she does not like in the upper Po valley. Out of 660 voters they expressed their vote in 593 between individual and collective votes.

The seat will be chaired by Emanuele Trevi, winner of the 2021 Strega.

The final , scheduled for July 7 at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, will be conducted by Geppi Cucciari.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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