Carmine Abate wins the Campiello Premio 2012

words by Carol King

Carmine Abate has won the prestigious Campiello Premio for his novel La collina del vento.

The book tells the story of what happens when celebrated Italian archaeologist Paolo Orsi attempts an excavation in Calabria during the early 1900s in search of the Ancient Greek city of Krimisa.

The result was announced at a ceremony at Venice’s Teatro Fenice. Abate beat four other contenders for the prize: Marcello Fois with his novel Nel tempo di mezzo, Francesca Melandri with Più alto del mare, Marco Missiroli with Il senso dell'elefante and Giovanni Montanaro with Tutti i colori del mondo.

Abate was born into an Arbëreshë community in Carfizzi, Calabria. After graduating from university he moved to Germany for a decade before returning to Italy to live in Trentino. Abate has written short stories, novels and essays that often focus on migration issues. His books have been translated into seven languages and are about to be published in Arabic. Two have been translated into English: Tra due mari (2002) under the title Between Two Seas and La festa del ritorno (2004) as The Homecoming Party . Abate’s win comes after a previous attempt eight years ago when he came third with The Homecoming Party .

The Premio Campiello is one of the most important Italian literary awards. It has been awarded annually since 1963 – the first winner was Primo Levi for his memoir La tregua (The Truce). The prize takes its name from the diminutive of ‘campo’ – meaning ‘square’ in Venetian – and is promoted through the Fondazione Il Campiello foundation. 

Past winners include Dacia Maraini, Giorgio Bassani and Margaret Mazzantini. Each year a panel of literary experts selects five books published that year as the finalists and then a jury of 500 readers proclaims the winner.