The 2026 Asproni Award goes to Honorary Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco. The award will be presented on Sunday, October 18, at 6:00 PM, at the Teatro Massimo in Cagliari. The awards ceremony will be preceded by a conversation featuring Cosimo Ceccuti, President of the Spadolini Foundation; Aldo Pavan, Professor of Business Economics and President of the Cagliari Cooperative Credit Bank; Anna Maria Pinna , Director of CRENoS; and Stefano Pira, Professor of Modern History.

Visco is a leading figure in the world of economics and finance. He was one of the longest-serving governors in the history of the Bank of Italy, leading it for twelve years, with two consecutive appointments, from 2011 and 2023. During his tenure, he managed several crises, from sovereign debt to banking, not to mention the COVID-19 crisis. A member of the Governing Council of the ECB and the Bank of Italy (BIS), from 1997 to 2002 he was Chief Economist and Director of the OECD Economic Department in Paris. The author of numerous publications —such as "Why Times Are Changing" and "Difficult Years"—he has received several awards throughout his career.

The Asproni Prize was awarded to Visco by a jury selected by the Foundation , which annually selects a figure from the cultural, political, institutional, economic, and social worlds who has distinguished themselves through their work, reflecting a set of values closely related to those that inspired Giorgio Asproni's thinking and overall work, with particular, but not exclusive, reference to Sardinia. During the awards ceremony, the Asproni Foundation will also announce its twinning with the Spadolini Foundation, established to encourage studies on topics of interest and raise awareness of history among young people, including through dedicated scholarships.

The Asproni Foundation was established in 2010 with the aim of honoring the illustrious politician and patriot of the Risorgimento, a native of Bitti, and of disseminating his thoughts and work.

Giorgio Asproni, a member of parliament for the historical left from 1848 to 1876, was a brilliant journalist who worked for numerous Italian, Spanish, and American newspapers. He was a friend of Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cattaneo, to whom he explained the Sardinian question, providing valuable reports and documentation concerning the region. A staunch promoter of the economic and cultural development of Sardinia and the South, Asproni consistently worked to ensure that republican principles, along with those of secularism and autonomy, were part of the national debate and the institutional heritage of the Italian nation.

(Unioneonline)

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