During the evening show ‘Premio ITAS 50’ the overall winner of the 50 was announcedto edition of the ITAS Mountain Book Award. The event hosted by Raffaello Fusaro was animated by two prestigious guests, Corrado Augias and Veronica Pivetti, who enhanced the theme of the High Lands by combining the importance of the environment with the foresight of investing in the valorization of Alpine culture, like ITAS Mutua ago with its 50-edition literary competition.
The winning book of the 50thto edition is Golden years Of Arno Camenischpublished by Keller editore.
In the book Arno Camenisch tells the story of Margrit and Rosa-Maria who for 51 years have been managing a kiosk and a fuel pump which are the point of reference for the entire town and for those who travel the roads of those mountains. Arno Camenisch outlines with great irony and a certain nostalgia a beautiful and luminous world that almost risks disappearing, in a story of universal value that makes a small corner of the mountains a mirror of our times.
Alberto Pacherdeputy vice-president of ITAS Mutua who with Giuseppe Consoli (Outgoing ITAS President) awarded the winner, he commented: “Many things have changed since 1971 but as our Company continued its activity as a mutual insurance company, the Premior ITAS continued its work of valorising the culture of the Highlands in all its forms and manifestations. A culture that has evolved naturally over time and that our Award has been able to best express not only by celebratingnor them works, but also organizing a variety of initiatives, projects and events And collaborations that have allowed the Award itself to identify itself as a real litmus test for the cultural evolutions of society as a whole. We have thus realized that over time we have developed a particular sensitivity which is now also oriented towards the protection of this very delicate territory, which we have the duty to preserve as intact as possible for the generations who come after us.”
Enrico Brizzipresident of the Jury of the ITAS Award expressed his opinion on the winning book and the meaning of an Award that boasts 50 editions: “The ITAS Prize celebrated its fiftieth edition, rightfully entering the ranks of the oldest literary prizes.
For us it was an opportunity to retrace its history, from the pioneering years to those characterized by the jury presidency of Mario Rigoni Stern, with a special evening dedicated to the awards and a solemn celebratory volume. Long live our ITAS Award and the mountain book!”
Also Corrado Augiasstar guest of the awards evening, commented: “I am pleased to participate in this important moment for the ITAS Award which with its 50 editions reaches a historic milestone. It is fundamental that today there are still those who, with passion and strength, can spread the values and culture expressed by literature as a whole and in this sense I applaud the ITAS Award”.
This one motivation with which the jury recognized the value of Arno Camenisch’s work: Arno Camenisch is fully a “mountain storyteller”; he grew up in the Alpine area, writes in German and in the Romansh of his native Canton of Grisons, and the point of view he adopts on the highlands in his latest novel left the jury enchanted. It could be said that Camenisch looks at the mountains from below, since the two protagonists of his story run a kiosk just eight hundred meters above sea level along the road that leads to a pass. Their observation point, therefore, is not simply placed at a modest altitude compared to the peaks that surround it, but coincides with an obligatory transit point for those – locals, day trippers or more or less illustrious holidaymakers – who move through the valley. How many times have we passed by an isolated petrol station, perhaps selling food and stationery items, and wondered what kind of life do the people who run it lead? With his latest book Camenisch gives us the answer, staging the memories and small squabbles of Margrit and Rosa-Maria, who have opened the kiosk every day since 1969. They have been seeing people pass by for fifty-odd years and collecting their confidences, and the flow of their dialogue coincides with the entire work. It feeds on the great snowfalls of the past and the sentimental events of the valley dwellers, on great questions about our place in the world and on the time when a World Cup was being played and the kids went crazy for the footballers’ stickers. The world has changed around them one month at a time, but Margrit and Maria-Rosa continue to turn on their yellow sign every day, which seems like the “main switch” of the town. We smile and are moved by reading about them, we reflect on what the mountains are becoming and we salute the talent of a true author, capable of finding the most authentic humanity even in a place that for most represents only a technical stopover , if not a useless distraction along the road that leads to your destination. For this reason, and for the author’s dry and evocative style, the jury that I have the honor of presiding assigns the 2024 ITAS Award to “Golden Years” by Arno Camenisch.
The others winners of the respective categories are:
- Adam the climber by Pietro Dal Pra and Adam Ondra, South Side, for the “Mountaineering and mountain sports” section.
- Vto’ Path by Yuri Basilicò and Sara Furlanetto, Rizzoli, for the “Guides and maps” section.
- Discovering the invisible. The incredible story of Alexander von Humboldtby Volker Mehnert and Claudia Lieb, Donzelli, for the section “Children’s books
- The mountain by Carlo Mollino by Antonio De Rossi and Roberto Dini, Hoepli, for the “Research and environment” section.
Winner of the “Special mention Trentino”:
- Merchants of light. Opticians and photographers from Tesis between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by Elda Fietta, Publistampa Edizioni.
Another one special mention was assigned to the publishing house Southern sidefor the quality work carried out consistently in recent years in the publication of guides and maps.
In addition to the special awards evening, as per tradition, the usual events are also renewed presentation of the winning works with the authorswithin the program of the Trento Film Festival, precious opportunities for dialogue with the public of the ITAS Award:
- 27 April, 5.30 pm, at the Literary Lounge in Piazza Duomo (TN) presentation of the book Merchants of light. Opticians and photographers from Tesis between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with Elda Fietta
- 29 April, 4.00 pm, at the Literary Lounge in Piazza Duomo (TN) presentation of the book Golden years with Arno Camenisch
- 2 May, 5.30 pm, at the Literary Lounge in Piazza Duomo (TN) presentation of the book Adam the climber with Petro Dal Pra.
- 4 May, 11.00 am, at T4Future in Piazza Fiera (TN) presentation of the book Discovering the invisible. The incredible story of Alexander von Humboldt
This year too, the ITAS Award will be the protagonist of the Turin International Book Fairscheduled for May 9th to 13th.
Alongside Trentino Marketing and Trento Film Festival, the Award renews its participation in the space called la Mountain Hall and will help to animate 5 days of appointments to meet authors, publishers and mountain literature enthusiasts. The books featured in this edition will be presented in Turin, as well as two events dedicated to the live spectacularization of the podcast “Glow”bearing the ITAS Award.
