Andrea Bajani in pole position for Strega 2025

He is the name everyone is betting on. After winning the Premio Strega Giovani and obtaining the highest number of votes on the decisive evening for the final five, Andrea Bajani presents himself as the super favorite of the LXXIX edition of the Premio Strega. With his novel "L'anniversario" (Feltrinelli), the author returns tomorrow evening, Thursday 3 July, to the Ninfeo di Villa Giulia in Rome as a protagonist, determined to redeem the missed victory of 2021 and finally climb to the top step of the Italian literary podium.

According to rumors gathered among industry insiders, the verdict seems already written: with 280 votes collected on the evening of June 4 at the Teatro Romano in Benevento - more than any other competitor - and the unanimous acclaim of critics and readers, Bajani is in pole position to receive the coveted bottle of Strega Liqueur. The success obtained with the Strega Giovani - awarded by over 100 Italian and international schools - has added further momentum to his race. Bajani, presented by Emanuele Trevi - the same one who beat him in the 2021 final - could symbolically close a circle, returning from challenger to favorite. But the path is not without pitfalls: with 226 votes, Nadia Terranova with "Quello che so di te" (Guanda) is considered her main antagonist, while Elisabetta Rasy with "Perduto è questo mare" (Rizzoli), 205 votes, Paolo Nori with "Chiudo la porta e urlo" (Mondadori), 180 votes and the surprising Michele Ruol with "Inventario di quel che resta dopo che la foresta brucia" (TerraRossa), 180 votes, complete a top five in which each book has a strong identity and a story to tell.

Pino Strabioli is the host of the final event of the 2025 Strega Prize, which will be broadcast live on Rai 3 tomorrow evening from 10:50 p.m., with guests Anna Foglietta and Filippo Timi. During the final evening, Anna Foa will also be interviewed, recent winner of the first edition of the Strega Saggistica Prize with "Il dottrina di Israele" (Laterza).

The Prize will be awarded by a jury composed of the votes of the 400 Friends of Sunday, to which are added as usual 245 voters from abroad selected by 35 Italian Cultural Institutes in the world (each of which express 7 jurors among scholars, translators and enthusiasts of our language and literature), 25 collective votes from schools, universities and reading circles of the Libraries of Rome, 30 votes from strong readers chosen from the world of professions and entrepreneurship. The last hundred votes will be counted one by one until the author of the winning book is announced. The chair of the polling station will be Donatella di Pietrantonio, winner of the last edition.

Also this year the Strega Tour will continue with the author of the awarded book touching on 5th July Cervo, on 6th July Lonato del Garda, on 9th July Rome (Literature Festival), on 20th July the Festival della Marina di Villasimius, on 26th July Vieste (Il Libro Possibile), will then continue in August and then resume and conclude in autumn.

The Strega Prize has always sought an exchange with other art forms. Since 2018, a prize has been awarded to the finalists, the result of an ideas competition, the Strega Bper Art Prize, announced by Bper Banca and aimed at all state Fine Arts Academies for the creation of a sculpture inspired by the craft of writing and the importance of promoting reading. The 2025 shortlist will receive a work created by Giandomenico Soranno, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, entitled "Essenza".

On the eve of the 2025 winner announcement ceremony, this morning (July 2) the press conference was held to present the final evening: speakers included Luana Toniolo, director of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Giovanni Solimine, president of the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation, Giuseppe D'Avino, president of Strega Alberti Benevento, and Claudia Corazza, head of the Sponsorships Office of Bper Banca. In the second part of the press conference, Stefano Petrocchi, director of the Bellonci Foundation, presented the five finalists.

Finally, this evening, a new opportunity for the finalists to meet the public will be Abracabook, the silent book party organized by Scuola Holden, starting at 8:00 p.m., in the garden of the Maxxi Museum in Rome. For an hour, everyone will read in silence: each one their own book. At the end, an open conversation will begin with the authors: without stages, without schedules, starting from the experience they have just had. Moderators: Lorenzo Carnielo and Silvia Pevato of Scuola Holden.

(by Paolo Martini)