Cilento International Poetry Prize (Italian: Premio Internazionale Cilento Poesia) is an Italian literary prize founded in 2017 by the poet, writer and literary critic Menotti Lerro and awarded annually, in the month of August, in Salento Cilento—”The Poetry Village”.
Criteria for nomination
The prize is awarded to “a poet who, during the preceding year, has published a collection of poems already considered relevant to be part of the history of literature, or the same prize is conferred to a distinguished poet for the importance of his/her career”. It is considered as the flagship of the Empathic Movement (Empathism).
Commission
Menotti Lerro: President of commission.
Rosa Maria Vitola: From Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Salerno e Avellino.
Leandro Ventura: From Italian Ministry of Culture, director of Central Institute for “Patrimonio Immateriale”.
Katia Ballacchino: Professor Università degli Studi di Salerno.
Mauro Afro Borella: Professor at Accademia Albertina di Torino. Aurora Egidio: Professor Università degli Studi di Salerno.
Rosa Giulio: Professor Università degli Studi di Salerno.
Maria Tommasa Granese: From Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Salerno e Avellino.
Wilma Leone: Responsable “Sistema Museale e del Patrimonio librario della Provincia di Salerno”.
Antonello Pelliccia: Former director Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera a Milano – Design Section.
Stefania Zuliani: Professor Università degli Studi di Salerno.
Maria Grazia Barone: From Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Salerno e Avellino (Secretary of the Prize).
Prizes (some cases equal-first) have been awarded as follows
2017 – Davide Rondoni
2018 – Milo De Angelis
2019 – Franco Loi and Roberto Carifi (special winter edition at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera)
2019 – Giampiero Neri and Vivian Lamarque
2020 – Elio Pecora
2021 – Dacia Maraini
2022 – Valerio Magrelli and Tiziano Rossi
2023 – Maurizio Cucchi and Najwan Darwish
2024 – Enrico Testa
Cilento Prizes for narrative have been awarded as follows
2023 – Diego De Silva and Maria Rita Parsi
2024 – Jon Fosse, Melania Mazzucco
Cilento Prizes for criticism have been awarded as follows
2018 – Francesco D’Episcopo
2019 – Umberto Curi
2020 – Remo Bodei
Cilento Prizes for art have been awarded as follows
2023 – Omar Galliani and Antonello Pelliccia
2024 – Giulia Napoleone
Cilento Prizes for music have been awarded as follows
2023 – Franco Mussida and Bernardo Lanzetti
2024 – Lino Vairetti
Cilento Prizes for Theater have been awarded as follows
Laura Curino
Institutional sponsorship
The Cilento Poetry Prize is officially supported by: Italian Ministry of Culture, Regione Campania, Provincia di Salerno, Comune di Salerno, Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio Salerno e Avellino, Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni, Università degli Studi di Salerno – DISPS.
In 2022, on a project written by Menotti Lerro, the Prize has been financed by the Italian Ministry of Culture for €140,500 to let it become International.