Wanda Marasco wins the Campiello Prize for "With Your Back to This World."

The Neapolitan writer received 86 votes from the Jury of Three Hundred Anonymous Readers

Wanda Marasco, with "Di spalle a questo mondo" (Neri Pozza), has won the 63rd edition of the Campiello Prize. The Neapolitan writer received 86 votes from the Jury of Three Hundred Anonymous Readers (282 voters), narrowly edging out second-place Fabio Stassi with "Bebelplatz" (Sellerio), who received 83. The SuperCampiello award ceremony took place this evening at the historic Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice. The award ceremony was presented by Raffaele Boscaini, president of Confindustria Veneto and the Il Campiello Foundation. The announcement was made live on television by Giorgia Cardinaletti, a Rai journalist and well-known face on Tg1, who is hosting the Campiello for the first time.

The other finalists in the top five competing for the coveted "wellhead," the symbol of the award, were: Monica Pareschi with "Inverness" (Polidoro), who came in third with 58 votes; Alberto Prunetti with "Troncamacchioni" (Feltrinelli), who came in fourth with 36 votes; and Marco Belpoliti with "Nord Nord" (Einaudi), who came in fifth with 19 votes.

Marasco's novel traces the neglected story of Neapolitan physician Ferdinando Palasciano, a man of great battles and innovations in the medical and healthcare landscape of the late 19th century, up until his admission to the Villa Fleurent asylum. The personal stories of Palasciano and his wife, Olga Pavlova Vavilova, equally central to the narrative, are interwoven with the collective history with sophistication and care. (by Paolo Martini)