Antonio Scurati won the 73rd edition of the Strega Prize with "M. Il figlio del secolo," published by Bompiani. The 50-year-old Neapolitan writer won by a landslide with 228 votes, ahead of Benedetta Cibrario with "Il rumore del mondo" (Mondadori), who received 127 votes. Marco Missiroli, whose "Fedelta'" (Einaudi) was initially considered the favorite, finished in third place with 91 votes. Claudia Durastanti came in fourth with "La straniera" (La nave di Teseo), with 63 votes, and Nadia Terranova in fifth with "Addio fantasmi" (Einaudi), with 47 votes. 556 of the 660 eligible voters cast their votes. This was Scurati's third Strega Prize, following two second-place finishes in 2009, when he was beaten by a single vote, and in 2014, when he was defeated by five votes. The monumental "M. the Son of the Century" (Bompiani) is the first volume of a trilogy reconstructing Mussolini's life in novel form. Helena Janeczek, winner of the 2018 edition, presided over the jury in the Nymphaeum of Villa Giulia in Rome. Those in attendance included former Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Dario Franceschini, Nicola Lagioia, winner of the 2015 edition with "Ferocia," Ricardo Franco Levi, President of the Italian Institute of Foreign Affairs (AIE), Dacia Maraini, and Corrado Augias. The Strega Prize was established in 1947 and is considered the most important and coveted of its kind in Italy. In the past, it has crowned names such as Cesare Pavese, Elsa Morante, Primo Levi, and Umberto Eco. The winner is chosen by a jury of 660 people, including former winners. There are 400 "Friends of Sunday," 200 voters abroad selected by Italian cultural institutes, 40 readers selected by 20 ALI member bookstores, and 20 collective votes. "I'm happy, but above all pleased, that many more Italians will read this book, not only because I wrote it, but because they will learn about our history with the hope that it won't be repeated, even if in different forms," said Antonio Scurati, immediately after being announced the winner of the 73rd Strega Prize with "M. the son of the century" (Bompiani). "I dedicate this victory to our grandparents and our fathers, who were first seduced and then oppressed by fascism, and especially to those among them who later found the courage to fight it, weapons in hand," he added. "And at the same time, I would like to dedicate the Prize to our children, with the hope that they never have to go through what we experienced 100 years ago, and especially to my daughter Lucia."
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