The Bagutta Prize is an Italian

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

prize that is awarded annually to Italian writers. The prize originated among patrons of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

's ''Bagutta Ristorante''. The writer Riccardo Bacchelli discovered the restaurant and soon he regularly gathered numerous friends who would dine there together and discuss books. They began charging fines to the person who arrived last to an appointed meal, or who failed to appear. At first, the funds so collected were spent on miscellaneous items, but on 11 November 1927, the group decided to use the funds to create a literary prize. They named it after the restaurant. Other directors of the prize include Emilio Tadini,

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954, he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, s ...

and Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti.

Prizewinners general prize

*1927 Giovan Battista Angioletti: ''Il giorno del giudizio'' (Ribet) *1928

Giovanni Comisso Giovanni Comisso (3 October 1895 – 21 January 1969) was an important Italian writer of the twentieth century, appreciated by Eugenio Montale, Umberto Saba, Gianfranco Contini and many others. Life Comisso was born in Treviso, where, during ...

: ''Gente di mare'' (

Treves Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone i ...

) *1929 Vincenzo Cardarelli: ''Il sole a picco'' (Mondadori) *1930 Gino Rocca: ''Gli ultimi furono i primi'' (

) *1931

Giovanni Titta Rosa Giovanni Titta Rosa (5 March 1891 – 7 January 1972) was an Italian literary critic, poet, and novelist. Born in Santa Maria del Ponte, at that time frazione of Fontecchio, Titta Rosa graduated in letters at the University of Florence and the ...

: ''Il varco nel muro'' (Carabba) *1932

Leonida Rèpaci Leonida Rèpaci (5 April 1898 – 19 July 1985) was an Italian writer and political activist. He won the Bagutta Prize in 1933 and was one of the originators of the Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( or ) is an Italian literature, litera ...

: ''Storia dei fratelli Rupe'' (Ceschina) *1933 Raul Radice: ''Vita comica di Corinna'' (Ceschina) *1934

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; 14 November 1893 – 21 May 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers who played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements of di ...

: ''Il castello di Udine'' ('' Solaria'') *1935 Enrico Sacchetti: ''Vita di artista'' (

) *1936 Silvio Negro: ''Vaticano minore'' (Hoepli) *1937-1946 Prize not awarded *1947 Dario Ortolani: ''Il sole bianco'' Garzanti) *1948 Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini: ''L'onda dell'incrociatore'' (Einaudi) *1949 Giulio Confalonieri: ''Prigionia di un artista'' (Genio) *1950

Vitaliano Brancati Vitaliano Brancati (; 24 July 1907 – 25 September 1954) was an Italian novelist, dramatist, poet and screenwriter. Biography Born in Pachino, Syracuse, Brancati studied in Catania, where he graduated in letters and where he spent most of h ...

: '' Il bell'Antonio'' (Bompiani) *1951

Indro Montanelli Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli (; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist, historian, and writer. He was one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes according to the International Press Institute. A volunteer ...

: ''Pantheon minore'' (Longanesi) *1952 Francesco Serantini: ''L'osteria del gatto parlante'' (Garzanti) *1953

Leonardo Borghese Leonardo or The Leonardo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Leonardo Journal'', an arts journal * ''Leonardo'' (Italian magazine), a philosophy magazine published in Florence, Italy, in 1903–1907 * ''Leonardo'' (journal), published b ...

: ''Primo amore'' (Garzanti) *1954

Giuseppe Marotta Giuseppe "Beppe" Marotta (born 25 March 1957) is an Italian football executive who is currently the chairman and CEO of Italian football club Inter Milan. In 2014, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Career Early career ...

: ''Coraggio, guardiano'' (Bompiani) *1955

Alfonso Gatto Alfonso Gatto (17 July 1909 – 8 March 1976) was an Italian poet and writer. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century and a major exponent of hermetic poetry. Biography Gatto studied at the ...

: ''La forza degli occhi'' Mondadori) *1956 Giuseppe Lanza: ''Rosso sul lago'' (Cappelli) *1957

Pier Angelo Soldini Pier Angelo Soldini (25 May 1910 – 12 July 1974) was an Italian novelist, essayist and journalist. Born in Castelnuovo Scrivia, in 1935 Soldini won a special Viareggio Prize for best first work thanks to his debut novel A debut novel is the ...

: ''Sole e bandiere'' (Ceschina) *1958 Lorenzo Montano: ''A passo d'uomo'' (Rebellato) *1959

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosm ...

: ''Racconti'' (Einaudi) *1960 ** Enrico Emanuelli: ''Uno di New York'' (Mondadori) **

Antonio Barolini Antonio Barolini was an Italian poet and novelist who was born in Vicenza on 29 May 1910, and died in Rome on 21 January 1971. His stories, translated into English by his wife, Helen Barolini, appeared in ''The New Yorker'' and then were collecte ...

: ''Elegie di Croton'', (Feltrinelli) (''ex aequo'') *1961 Giorgio Vigolo: ''Le notti romane'' (Bompiani) *1962

Giuseppe Dessì Giuseppe Dessì (7 August 1909 – 6 July 1977) was an Italian novelist, short-story writer and playwright from Sardinia. His novel ''Paese d'ombre'' won the 1972 Strega Prize and was translated into English as ''The Forests of Norbio''. Dessì ...

: ''Il dissertore'' (Feltrinelli) *1963 Ottiero Ottieri: ''La linea gotica'' (Bompiani) *1964 Tommaso Landolfi: ''Rien va'' (Vallecchi) *1965 Biagio Marin: ''Il non tempo del mare'' (Mondadori) *1966 Manlio Cancogni: ''La linea dei Tomori'' (Mondadori) *1967

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 ...

: ''Storie naturali'' (Einaudi) *1968

Piero Chiara Piero Chiara (23 March 1913 – 31 December 1986) was an Italian writer. He was born in Luino, Italy. His father Eugenio was from Resuttano, Sicily, and his mother Virginia Maffei was from Comnago, a Piedmontese village in the municipality of ...

: ''Il balordo'' (Mondadori) *1969 Niccolò Tucci: ''Gli atlantici'' (Garzanti) *1970

Alberto Vigevani Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

: ''L'invenzione'' (Vallecchi) *1971

Piero Gadda Conti Piero Gadda Conti (13 February 1902 – 22 January 1999) was an Italian novelist and film critic. Born in Milan, the cousin of Carlo Emilio Gadda, he debuted as a novelist in 1924 with ''L' estusiastica estate''. He got his breakout in 1930 with ...

: ''La paura'' (Ceschina) *1972

Anna Banti Anna Banti (born Lucia Lopresti; 27 June 1895 – 2 September 1985) was an Italian writer, art historian, critic, and translator. Life and works Banti was born in Florence. In her youth she spent time in Rome, attending the Sapienza Univers ...

: ''Je vous écris d'un pays lointain'' (Mondadori) *1973 Sergio Solmi: ''Meditazione sullo scorpione'' (Adelphi) *1974 Gianni Celati: ''Le avventure di Guizzardi'' (Einaudi) *1975 Enzo Forcella: ''Celebrazioni d'un trentennio'' (Mondadori) *1976

: ''Lo specchio inclinato'' (Mondadori) *1977 Sandro Penna: ''Stranezze'' (Garzanti) *1978

Carlo Cassola Carlo Cassola (17 March 1917 – 29 January 1987) was an Italian novelist and essayist. His novel '' La Ragazza di Bube'' (1960), which received the Strega Prize, was adapted into a film of the same name by Luigi Comencini in 1963. Bibliogra ...

: ''L'uomo e il cane'' (Rizzoli) *1979

Mario Rigoni Stern Mario Rigoni Stern (1 November 1921 – 16 June 2008) was an Italian author and World War II veteran. Biography He was born and grew up on the Asiago plateau in North East Italy. In 1938, after being rejected for service in the Navy, he enrol ...

: ''Storia di Tönle'' (Einaudi) *1980 Giovanni Macchia: ''L'angelo della notte'' (Rizzoli) *1981 Pietro Citati: ''Breve vita di Katherine Mansfield'' (Rizzoli) *1982 Vittorio Sereni: ''Il musicante di Saint-Merry'' (Einaudi) *1983

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (Bologna, 4 March 1916 – Rome, 13 April 2000) was an Italians, Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where h ...

: ''In rima e senza'' (Mondadori) *1984

Natalia Ginzburg Natalia Ginzburg (, ; ; 14 July 1916 – 7 October 1991) was an Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, and philosophy. She wrote novels, short stories and essays, f ...

: ''La famiglia Manzoni'' (Einaudi) *1985 Francesca Duranti: ''La casa sul lago della luna'' (Rizzoli) *1986

Leonardo Sciascia Leonardo Sciascia (; 8 January 1921 – 20 November 1989) was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright, and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including '' Porte Aperte'' (1990; ''Open Doors''), '' Cadaveri Eccellen ...

: ''Cronachette'' (Sellerio) *1987

Claudio Magris Claudio Magris (; born 10 April 1939) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer. He was a senator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1994 to 1996. Life Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been ...

: ''Danubio'' (Garzanti) *1988 Luciano Erba: ''Il tranviere metafisico'' (Scheiwiller) *1989 Luigi Meneghello: ''Bau-sète!'' (Rizzoli) *1990

Fleur Jaeggy Fleur Jaeggy (born 31 July 1940) is a Swiss author who writes in Italian. ''The Times Literary Supplement'' named her novel ''Proleterka'' a Best Book of the Year upon its publication in the United States, and her ''Sweet Days of Discipline'' w ...

: ''I beati anni del castigo'' (Adelphi) *1991 Livio Garzanti: ''La fiera navigante'' (Garzanti) *1992

Giorgio Bocca Giorgio Valentino Bocca (28 August 1920 – 25 December 2011) was an Italian essayist and journalist, also known for his participation in the World War II Italian resistance movement, partisan movement. Biography Bocca was born in Cuneo, Piedm ...

: ''Il provinciale'' (Mondadori) *1993

Giovanni Giudici Giovanni Giudici (26 June 1924, in Le Grazie – 24 May 2011, in La Spezia) was an Italian poet and journalist. Life Giovanni Giudici spent his childhood in Le Grazie, where his mother gave him a strict Catholic education; her death ( ...

: ''Poesie 1953-1990'' (Garzanti) *1994 Alberto Arbasino: ''Fratelli d'Italia'' (Adelphi) *1995

Daniele Del Giudice Daniele Del Giudice (11 January 1949 – 2 September 2021) was an Italian author and lecturer. He lived in Venice, where he taught theatrical literature at the University Iuav of Venice. Biography Born in Rome in 1949, Del Giudice researched ava ...

: '' Staccando l'ombra da terra'' (Einaudi) *1996

Raffaello Baldini Raffaello "Lello" Baldini (24 November 1924 – 28 March 2005), was an Italian poet in the Romagnol language. Born in Santarcangelo di Romagna in 1924, Baldini was part of the town's literary-artistic circle, which met in a bar owned by his pa ...

: ''Ad nota'' (Mondadori) *1997

Sergio Ferrero Sergio Ferrero (21 December 1926 – 12 August 2008) was an Italian novelist. Born in Turin, Ferrero made his literary debut at 40 years old, with the novel ''Gloria''. In 1971, he was a finalist at the Strega Prize with the novel ''Il giuoco su ...

: ''Gli occhi del padre'' (Mondadori) *1998

Giovanni Raboni Giovanni Raboni (22 January 1932 – 16 September 2004) was an Italian poet, translator and literary critic. Biography Raboni was born in Milan, Italy, the second son of Giuseppe, a clerk at Milan commune, and Matilde Sommariva. In October 19 ...

: ''Tutte le poesie (1951–1993)'' (Garzanti) *1999

Fabio Carpi Fabio Carpi (19 January 1925 – 26 December 2018) was an Italian director, screenwriter, and author. Life and career Born in Milan in the 1940s, Carpi began his career as a film critic for the newspapers ''Libera Stampa'' and ''L'Unità''. He ...

: ''Patchwork'' (Bollate Boringhieri) *2000 ** Andrea Zanzotto: ''Le poesie e prose scelte'' (Mondadori) ** Mariano Bargellini: ''Mus utopicus'' (Gallino) *2001 Serena Vitale: ''La casa di ghiaccio. Venti piccole storie russe'' (Mondadori) *2002 ** Roberto Calasso: ''La letteratura e gli dei'' (Adelphi) ** Giorgio Orelli: ''Il collo dell'anitra'' (Garzanti) *2003 **

Michele Mari Michele Mari (born 26 December 1955) is an Italian novelist, short story writer, academic critic and poet, considered one of Italy's most esteemed and original living authors. The son of a Milanese industrial designer and artist, Enzo Mari, Mari t ...

: ''Tutto il ferro della Tour Eiffel'' (Einaudi) **

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 ...

: ''Il gatto lupesco'' (Feltrinelli) **

Eva Cantarella Eva Cantarella (born 1936) is an Italian classicist. She is professor of Roman law and ancient Greek law at the University of Milan, and has served as Dean of the Law School at the University of Camerino. Biography Cantarella is known for exami ...

: ''Itaca'' (Feltrinelli) *2004 Franco Cordero: ''Le strane regole del sig. B'' (Garzanti) *2005

Rosetta Loy Rosetta Loy (15 May 1931 – 1 October 2022) was an Italian writer. She was the recipient of the Rapallo Carige Prize for ''Le strade di polvere'' (''The Dusty Roads'') in 1988. Biography Born Rosetta Provera, she was the youngest of four ch ...

: ''Nero è l'albero dei ricordi, azzurra l'aria'' (Einaudi) *2006 ** Filippo Tuena: ''Le variazioni di Reinach'' (Rizzoli) ** Eugenio Borgna: ''L'attesa e la speranza'' (Feltrinelli) *2007

Alessandro Spina Alessandro Spina (1927–2013) was the pen name of Basili Shafik Khouzam. Born in Benghazi into a family of Syrian Maronites that originally hailed from Aleppo, Syria, Khouzam was educated in Milan and published his first story in Nuovi Argomenti. ...

: ''I confini dell'ombra'' (Morcelliana) *2008 Andrej Longo: ''Dieci'' (Adelphi) *2009 Melania Mazzucco: ''La lunga attesa dell'angelo'' (Rizzoli) *2010

Corrado Stajano Corrado may refer to: Places *Anticoli Corrado, comune in the City of Rome * Monte Vidon Corrado, comune in the Province of Fermo People Given name *See Corrado (given name) Surname * Andrea Corrado (1873-1963), Italian ship owner * Andrea Di Corr ...

: ''La città degli untori'' (Garzanti) *2011 Andrea Bajani: ''Ogni Promessa'' (MacLehose Press for the English edition, ''Every Promise'') *2012 ** Gianfranco Calligarich: ''Privati abissi'' (Fazi editore) ** Giovanni Mariotti: ''Il bene viene dai morti'' (Edizioni Et Al.) *2013 Antonella Tarpino: ''Spaesati. Luoghi dell'Italia in abbandono tra memoria e futuro'' (Einaudi) *2014 ** Maurizio Cucchi: ''Malaspina'' (Mondadori) **

Valerio Magrelli Valerio Magrelli (born 10 January 1957, Rome) is an Italian poet. He graduated in philosophy at the University of Rome and is an expert in French literature which he has taught and teaches at the University of Pisa and University of Cassino. ...

: ''Geologia di un padre'' (Einaudi) *2015 Sandro Veronesi: ''Terre rare'' (Bompiani) *2016 ** Paolo Di Stefano: ''Ogni altra vita. Storia di italiani non illustri'' (Il Saggiatore) **

Paolo Maurensig Paolo Maurensig (26 March 1943 – 29 May 2021) was an Italian novelist, best known for his book ''Canone inverso'' (1996), a complex tale of a violin and its owners. Biography Maurensig was born in Gorizia, northern Italy. Before becoming a no ...

: ''Teoria delle ombre'' (Adelphi) *2017 Vivian Lamarque: ''Madre d'inverno'' (Mondadori) *2018 Helena Janeczek: ''La ragazza con la Leica'' (Guanda) *2019 ** Marco Balzano: ''Resto qui'' (Einaudi) *2020 ** Enrico Deaglio: ''La bomba'' (Feltrinelli) *2021 ** Giorgio Fontana: ''Prima di noi'' (Sellerio) *2022 ** Benedetta Craveri: ''La contessa'' (Adelphi) *2023 Marco Missiroli: ''Avere tutto'' (Einaudi)

Prizewinners first book

*1987 Franca Grisoni: ''La böba'' (San Marco dei Giustiniani) *1991 Bruno Arpaia: ''I forastieri'' (Leonardo) *1992 ** Antonio Franchini: ''Camerati. Quattro novelle su come diventare grandi'' (Leonardo) ** Filippo Tuena: ''Lo sguardo della paura'' (Leonardo) *1994 Laura Bosio: ''I dimenticati'' (Feltrinelli) *1995 Piero Meldini: ''L'avvocata delle vertigini'' (Adelphi) *1996 ** Carola Susani: ''Il libro di Teresa'' (Giunti) ** Alessandro Gennari: ''Le ragioni del sangue'' (Garzanti) *1997 Patrizia Veroli: ''Millos'' (LIM) *1998 ** Helena Janeczek: ''Lezioni di tenebra'' (Fazi) ** Andrea Kerbaker: ''Fotogrammi'' (Scheiwiller) *1999 ** Tommaso Giartosio: ''Doppio Ritratto'' (Fazi) ** Rosa Matteucci: ''Lourdes'' (Adelphi) *2000 ** Mariano Bargellini: ''Mus utopicus'' (Gallino) ** Giovanni Chiara: ''L'agghiaccio'' (Marsilio) *2001 ** Silvia Di Natale: ''Kuraj'' (Feltrinelli) ** Luigi Guarnieri: ''L’atlante criminale. Vita scriteriata di Cesare Lombroso'' (Mondadori) *2002 Paolo Maccari: ''Ospiti'' (Manni) *2003 Giuseppe Curonici: ''L'interruzione del Parsifal dopo il primo atto'' (Interlinea) *2004 Wanda Marasco: ''L'arciere d'infanzia'' (Manni) *2005 Sandro Lombardi: ''Gli anni felici. Realtà e memoria nel lavoro dell'attore'' (Garzanti) *2006 Ascanio Celestini: ''Storie di uno scemo di guerra'' (Einaudi) *2007 Pierluigi Cappello: ''Assetto di volo'' (Crocetti) *2008 Elena Varvello: ''L'economia delle cose'' (Fandango) *2009 Guido Rampoldi: ''La mendicante azzurra'' (Feltrinelli) *2010 Filippo Bologna: ''Come ho perso la guerra'' (Fandango) *2011 ** Alessio Torino: ''Undici decimi'' (Italic Pequod) ** Daria Colombo: ''Meglio dirselo'' (Rizzoli) *2012 Marco Truzzi: ''Non ci sono pesci rossi nelle pozzanghere'' (Instar) *2013 Laura Fidaleo: ''Dammi un posto tra gli angeli'' (Nottetempo) *2014 Fabrizio Passanisi: ''Bert il mago'' (Nutrimenti) *2015 Enrico Ragazzoni: ''Una parete sottile'' (Neri Pozza) *2016 Nadia Terranova: ''Gli anni al contrario'' (Einaudi) *2017 Giulia Caminito: ''La grande A'' (Giunti) *2018 Roberto Venturini: ''Tutte le ragazze con una certa cultura hanno almeno un poster di un quadro di Schiele appeso in camera'' (SEM) *2019 Marco Amerighi: ''Le nostre ore contate'' (Mondanori) *2020 Jonathan Bazzi: ''Febbre'' *2021 Alessandro Valenti: ''Ho provato a morire e non ci sono riuscito'' (Blu Atlantide) *2022 Bernardo Zannoni: ''I miei stupidi intenti'' (Sellerio)

References

A Satiric Novel of Italian Life
at hull.ac.uk

at des.emory.edu {{Bagutta Prize Italian literary awards Awards established in 1927 1927 establishments in Italy