Screenwriter Francesco Piccolo wins Strega Prize

Author of Human Capital script scoops Italy's top book award

(ANSA) - Rome, July 4 - Francesco Piccolo won the 68th Strega book prize Thursday night with his bittersweet memoir of life on the Italian Left, 'Il desiderio di essere come tutti' (The Desire To Be Like Everyone), published by Einaudi.

Caserta-born novelist and screenwriter Piccolo, 50, won by just five votes over Antonio Scurati with 'Il padre infedele' (The Faithless Father), published by Bompiani. It was the second near miss by Scurati who in 2009 lost to Tiziano Scarpa by a single vote. "I dedicate this to my wife, Gabriella, to Einaudi and Caserta," said Piccolo, who earlier this year scooped an Italian Oscar, a David di Donatello, for the screenplay to Paolo Virzi's acclaimed 'Il capitale umano' (Human Capital).

Last year's winner was Walter Siti with his seventh novel, Resistere Non Serve A Niente (It's No Use Resisting). In 2012 the prize went to Alessandro Piperno with Inseparabili (Inseparable). The Strega is perhaps the most high-brow of Italy's three big book awards. The others are the Viareggio and Campiello prizes.

Recent winners of the Strega have included Niccolo' Ammanati, Maurizio Maggiani and Sandro Veronesi. Of these, Ammanati is perhaps the best known abroad because of his 2001 cult thriller Io non ho paura (I'm Not Scared) which was turned into a 2003 film of the same name by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores. The Einaudi publishing house was founded by Giulio Einaudi, the son of Italy's first president, in 1933 and published some of Italy's best-known authors. It was also the first house to publish Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, in 1957, when the famous novel was banned in the Soviet Union.

The Strega prize was founded in 1947 by author Maria Bellonci (1902-1986). Bellonci, best-known for her successful biographies of historical figures like Marco Polo and Lucretia Borgia, wanted to encourage literary freedom of expression after its repression under Fascism.

The name Strega, which means witch in Italian, refers to the prize's sponsors, producers of the famed yellow liqueur of the same name. Past winners include Cesare Pavese, Alberto Moravia, Giorgio Bassani, Elsa Morante, Dino Buzzati, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Carlo Cassola, Natalia Ginzburg, Primo Levi, Umberto Eco and Gesualdo Bufalino. In the past, the Strega prize has been marked by controversy. There have sometimes been rowdy arguments involving publishers and writers and even allegations of vote rigging.