The ''Premio Campiello'' is an annual Italian

literary prize A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Man ...

. A jury of literary experts (''giuria di letterati'' in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books are called ''Premio Selezione Campiello''. Then a jury of 300 readers (called ''giuria dei 300 lettori'') representing different social, cultural and professional groups from each region of Italy, each with one vote, decides the winner of the selection. Since 2004, the jury of literary experts awards a ''Premio Campiello Opera Prima'' for the best debut.

History

In 1962

Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry (), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italy, Italian small, medium, and big enterprises federation, acting as a private and autonomous chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. The association netwo ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

was seeking a contact between business and the literary sector and decided to formulate a literary prize. The first award was given to

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works i ...

for his autobiographical book '' La tregua'', translated in Britain as ''The Truce'' and in the United States as ''Reawakening''. The ceremony took place in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

's '' Teatro Verde'' on the island of

San Giorgio Maggiore San Giorgio Maggiore () is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The island, or more specifically its Palladian church, is an important landmark. It has been much painted, ...

on 3 September 1963. Today, the prize is still promoted by Italian businessmen from the Veneto region and it serves to promote Italian literature. There is a literary prize for young authors, called ''Campiello Giovani''. Participants must prove that they are between 15 and 22 years of age to qualify. The committee that determines the ''Campiello Giovani'' is made up of young people. Very often previous winners and finalists serve on the initial jury to determine the current participants. Then, three teachers vote for the five finalists, and the Jury of 300 select the winner. Some foreign countries, like Germany and Spain, have begun to award a prize called ''Campiello'' using the same model.

Name

The word ''campiello'' is the diminutive of ''campo''. Unlike other cities that use the word ''piazza'' to designate plazas and squares, Venice uses the word ''campo''. ''Campiello'' is a little square.

Winners

''Premio Speciale''

From 1997 to 2003 Fondazione Il Campiello awarded a special prize (''Premio Speciale della Giuria dei Letterati'') which recognized contemporary writers for distinguished work throughout their lifetime. The ''Premio Speciale'' was awarded to:"Premio Speciale della Giuria dei Letterati"
Premiocampiello.org. Retrieved October 23, 2014 . *

Anna Maria Ortese Anna Maria Ortese (; June 13, 1914 – March 9, 1998) was an Italian author of novels, short stories, poetry, and travel writing. Born in Rome, she grew up between southern Italy and Tripoli, with her formal education ending at age thirteen. H ...

(1997) *

Elio Pagliarani Elio Pagliarani (25 May 1927 – 8 March 2012) was an Italian poet and literary critic, who belonged to the avant-garde Gruppo 63 movement. He was born in Viserba, near Rimini. Pagliarani graduated in Politics Science at Padua, and in the 19 ...

(1998) *

Maria Corti Maria Corti (7 September 1915 – 22 February 2002) was an Italian philologist, literary critic, and novelist. Considered one of the leading literary scholars of post-World War II Italy, she was awarded numerous prizes including the Premio Campiel ...

(1999) *

Franco Lucentini Franco Lucentini (; 24 December 1920 – 5 August 2002) was an Italian writer, journalist, translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The En ...

(2000) *

Raffaele La Capria Raffaele La Capria (3 October 1922 – 26 June 2022) was an Italian novelist and screenwriter. His second novel, '' Ferito a morte'' (''Mortal Wound)'', won Italy's most prestigious literary award, the Strega Prize, and is today considered a c ...

(2001) *

Michel Tournier Michel Tournier (; 19 December 1924 − 18 January 2016) was a French writer. He won awards such as the '' Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française'' in 1967 for '' Friday, or, The Other Island'' and the Prix Goncourt for '' The Erl-King'' ...

(2002) *

Edoardo Sanguineti Edoardo Sanguineti (9 December 1930 – 18 May 2010) was a Genoese poet, writer and academic, universally considered one of the major Italian authors of the second half of the twentieth century. Biography In 1956, Sanguineti published his firs ...

(2003)

References

External links

* {{in lang, it. Campiello Fiction awards Awards established in 1963 1963 establishments in Italy