Here are the 12 books finalists for the Strega Prize

Among the most important literary prizes, the Premio Strega brings some every year finalist books and authors at the top of the charts: if you want to stay updated on the 12 finalists of the current year and read the novels before the podium of this year’s 5 winners is decided, here are the titles not to be missed.

The Strega Prize is a annual literary competition which goes to elect a book published in Italy and is one of the most prestigious awards in the Bel Paese. Since 1947, each year, a series of books has been selected to compete as finalists for this prestigious award. If you want to stay updated and preview the books finalists of the Strega Prize this year here is the selection of 12 already talked about: among them there will be the winner.

Let’s go back in time with the novel by Sonia Aggio: the protagonist is a soldier who becomes emperor in the Byzantine period. The pages tell of the childhood in which the great leader first lost his friend and then his father and was then sent to his uncles at the behest of his mother. Even though he is valiant in battle, he holds torments inside himself. Don’t miss it for the perfect combo between the faithful historical setting and the psychological analysis.

The novel tells of Adelaida Gigli, one of the most important figures of Argentine history of the last century. The woman went down in history for having provided shelter and hiding place to dissidents, even supplying them with weapons. She has never been afraid to oppose and rebel, firmly fighting against censorship and dictatorship. A strong female figure who will win you over, page after page.

If you strongly believe in friendship, Paolo Di Paolo’s book will win you over: right from the first pages is about Mauro Barbi, a man who has disappointed an old friend, even going so far as to tyrannize unjustly. His biggest regret? Having made yourself forgotten or perhaps, even worse, only remembered for the wrong things. A exciting story in which the protagonist, a historian, tries to fix the memories of others by showing his own point of view.

Those who know Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s writing know how scathing she is with words, so much so that she can make you feel the weight of a glance even just through the written pages. The novel talks about fragility: highlights how different fears correspond to every age. Different generations compared and in particular a mother and daughter who, despite the silences, try to understand each other.

Tommaso Giartosio’s ability in Autobiogrammatica is that of knowing how to describe language in a new way: not so much from a syntactic and linguistic point of view, but more as the origin of world consciousness. He talks as if he were a Bildungsroman and at the same time a memoir, your family chronicle, giving you a real self-portrait combined with a dictionary that mixes public and private.

Antonella Lattanzi, in her book finalist for the Strega Prize, talks about a couple: Antonella and Andrea. In love, they really want to have a child. It might seem like a story like many others, but things don’t always go as hoped. Anything that can go wrong, will. And here the protagonists begin not to tell to protect their own shame or perhaps too much pain. Between the pages, you will get excited and start to feel strong empathy.

With this book, Valentina Mira wishes to talk about current events, albeit making a leap back in time. The novel is considered by literary critics as a Anti-fascist hate poster. Set in Rome, and more precisely in ’78 in front of the headquarters of the Italian Social Movement in the Appio district, it tells of the killing of two right-wing activists transformed into untouchable heroes. A few years later, in ’87 Mario Scrocca, an active left-wing militant, was arrested and then found hanged in a cell in Regina Coeli. The pages are not intended to be a political conversation, but to tell about how a love and a life can be broken from a collective feeling of disenchantment to the point of becoming part of oblivion. You will like it if you love historical reconstructions mixed with the human part.

You may remember the phenomenon of “100 strokes of the brush before going to sleep”; the writer, who revolutionized the world of writing in 2003 with something absolutely new for the Italian panorama, returns, and does so with a title nominated for the Finalists of the Strega Prize. The themes? Self-destruction, eroticism, family but above all money. An at times feminist novel, which raises gender issues. The mature and at times cynical writing will win you over.

The theme discussed is that of Xylella pandemic which hit the historic Apulian olive trees, putting many families in difficulty with a drama that is both ecological and social. Set in Gallipoli, it tells the story of the olive tree’s bond with that region in a technical but also emotional way and above all collects the words of shopkeepers, farmers and oil millers who are trying to save their businesses. You will love it as you discover the history of one of the most loved products of Italian excellence even abroad.

A dive back in time until October 1945. Raffaella Romagnolo takes us to relive one of the strongest and still terribly current historical moments. The protagonist is Teacher Gilla who seems to breathe a sigh of relief when she sees a school that until a few weeks earlier was dominated by the Nazis; she will win you over with the incredible number of voices that tell the story of the war years, between historical and family episodes. And if you love cats… know that an adorable feline will play a crucial role.

Chiara Valerio’s novel has Vittoria as its protagonist, a woman who apparently dies from an accident in her bathtub. Co-protagonist is the lawyer Lea Russo who absolutely does not believe this version. It will win you over and make you think if you also think that we know nothing about others other than what they want known.

In books, we are often used to reading about bonds between mothers and children but that of Dario Voltolini, with his characteristic and enlightened writing, wants to focus on that between father and son. A butcher is observed in his work by his own child who grows up with him until the disease takes over and the boy, now 20 years old, combines devotion and suffering in seeing the natural passage of life. She will amaze you with raw images and profound intimacy.