ShelfEvidentPremio Strega
2025 Winner
Complete History
2010s
- 2019M. Il figlio del secolo
- 2018La ragazza con la Leica
- 2017Le otto montagne
- 2016La scuola cattolica
- 2015La ferocia
- 2014Il desiderio di essere come tutti
- 2013Resistere non serve a niente — Walter Siti
- 2012Inseparabili — Alessandro Piperno
- 2011Storia della mia gente — Edoardo Nesi
- 2010Canale Mussolini — Antonio Pennacchi
2000s
- 2009Stabat mater — Tiziano Scarpa
- 2008La solitudine dei numeri primi — Paolo Giordano
- 2007Come Dio comanda — Niccolò Ammaniti
- 2006Caos calmo — Sandro Veronesi
- 2005Il viaggiatore notturno — Maurizio Maggiani
- 2004Il dolore perfetto — Ugo Riccarelli
- 2003Vita — Melania Mazzucco
- 2002Non ti muovere — Margaret Mazzantini
- 2001Via Gemito — Domenico Starnone
- 2000N. — Ernesto Ferrero
1990s
- 1999Buio — Dacia Maraini
- 1998I bei momenti — Enzo Siciliano
- 1997Microcosmi — Claudio Magris
- 1996Bella vita e guerre altrui di Mr. Pyle, 'gentiluomo' — Alessandro Barbero
- 1995Passaggio in ombra — Mariateresa Di Lascia
- 1994La casa del padre — Giorgio Montefoschi
- 1993Ninfa plebea — Domenico Rea
- 1992Nottetempo, casa per casa — Vincenzo Consolo
- 1991La strada per Roma — Paolo Volponi
- 1990La chimera — Sebastiano Vassalli
1980s
- 1989La grande sera — Giuseppe Pontiggia
- 1988Le menzogne della notte — Gesualdo Bufalino
- 1987Le isole del paradiso — Stanislao Nievo
- 1986Rinascimento privato — Maria Bellonci
- 1985L'armata dei fiumi perduti — Carlo Sgorlon
- 1984Tolstoj — Pietro Citati
- 1983Il Natale del 1833 — Mario Pomilio
- 1982Il sillabario n.2 — Goffredo Parise
- 1981Il nome della rosa — Umberto Eco
- 1980La vita ingenua — Vittorio Gorresio
1970s
- 1979La chiave a stella — Primo Levi
- 1978Un altare per la madre — Ferdinando Camon
- 1977La miglior vita — Fulvio Tomizza
- 1976Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger — Fausta Cialente
- 1975A caso — Tommaso Landolfi
- 1974La morte del fiume — Guglielmo Petroni
- 1973Allegri, gioventù — Manlio Cancogni
- 1972Paese d'ombre — Giuseppe Dessì
- 1971La spiaggia d'oro — Raffaello Brignetti
- 1970Le stelle fredde — Guido Piovene
1960s
- 1969Le parole tra noi leggere — Lalla Romano
- 1968L'occhio del gatto — Alberto Bevilacqua
- 1967Poveri e semplici — Anna Maria Ortese
- 1966Una spirale di nebbia — Michele Prisco
- 1965La macchina mondiale — Paolo Volponi
- 1964L'ombra delle colline — Giovanni Arpino
- 1963Lessico famigliare — Natalia Ginzburg
- 1962Il clandestino — Mario Tobino
- 1961Ferito a morte — Raffaele La Capria
- 1960La ragazza di Bube — Carlo Cassola
1950s
- 1959Il gattopardo — Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
- 1958Sessanta racconti — Dino Buzzati
- 1957L'isola di Arturo — Elsa Morante
- 1956Cinque storie ferraresi — Giorgio Bassani
- 1955Un gatto attraversa la strada — Giovanni Comisso
- 1954Lettere da Capri — Mario Soldati
- 1953L'amante fedele — Massimo Bontempelli
- 1952I racconti — Alberto Moravia
- 1951Quasi una vita — Corrado Alvaro
- 1950La bella estate — Cesare Pavese
About the Premio Strega
The Premio Strega is Italy's most prestigious literary prize, awarded annually since 1947 to the best work of Italian prose fiction. Founded by the writers Maria and Goffredo Bellonci together with the Strega liqueur distillery, the prize takes its name from its sponsor and includes a bottle of Strega liqueur alongside a cash prize. The announcement ceremony is held each July at the Villa Giulia in Rome, a setting that has made it one of the most glamorous nights in the Italian literary calendar. Winners are chosen by the 'Amici della domenica,' a group of several hundred voters comprising writers, academics, critics, and public figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
- The prize is named after Strega (Italian for 'witch'), the Italian herbal liqueur produced by the Alberti family of Benevento, which has sponsored the prize since its founding in 1947. A bottle of Strega is traditionally included in the prize.
- The prize is voted on by the 'Amici della domenica' ('Friends of Sunday'), a group of several hundred voters including writers, academics, critics, journalists, and cultural figures. Votes can also be cast by Italian cultural institutes abroad.
- The winner is announced at a ceremony held each July at the Villa Giulia, a Renaissance villa and national museum in Rome.
- The Premio Strega includes a cash prize of approximately €5,000, plus a bottle of Strega liqueur. The real value is the enormous prestige and commercial success the prize generates.
- The prize is open to prose works in Italian — primarily novels — published in Italy in the year preceding the award.
- Books are nominated by members of the 'Amici della domenica.' Each member may nominate one book, and the nominations are then narrowed to a longlist of twelve, then a shortlist of five finalists.
- No. The prize is exclusively for works originally written in Italian.
- The Premio Strega is often described as Italy's most prestigious literary prize, making it a loose equivalent in terms of cultural prestige, although the selection process and prize value differ significantly.
- Yes. Unlike the Prix Goncourt, there is no rule preventing multiple wins. Sandro Veronesi, for example, won the prize twice — in 2006 and 2020.
- The Premio Strega was founded in 1947 by writers Maria and Goffredo Bellonci, who gathered a group of friends at their Rome home every Sunday, eventually formalizing their literary discussions into the prize. The first winner was Ennio Flaiano for 'Tempo di uccidere.'