Strega Prize, controversy: no books for Minister Giuli and he skips the final. Then the joke about Geppi Cucciari

New problems between the Minister of Culture in office and the Strega Prize . In 2023, the clash between Gennaro Sangiuliano and the presenter Geppi Cucciari took center stage. When asked about the judgment of the finalist books, the minister replied that he would have liked to study them in more depth, to which Geppi uttered the joke that went viral: " Ah, he hasn't read them! ". So in 2024 Sangiuliano boycotted the final. But history is repeating itself with his successor, not even the minister Alessandro Giuli will be present at the final scheduled for this evening in Rome: " No one sent me the finalists' books ", Giuli's motivation.

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"I note the fact - he explains - that I was invited to the Strega Prize evening, they were very nice, but I didn't receive any contact or any book. It's a bit strange that one has to go to the Strega Prize evening without having received the books for which the evening is organized . That said, the joke, because that's what it is: it's clear that they consider me an "enemy of Sunday", says Giuli.

The Foundation's response was immediate: "Relations with the minister have always been friendly, we greeted each other cordially at the last Turin Book Fair. We did not send him the prize books because we ask publishers to send them only to the Strega jury , from which he resigned the same day as his appointment to the Ministry of Culture". The minister then jokes about his absence: "The evening will be beautiful all the same. Maybe a little less fun, without Geppi Cucciari and Alessandro Giuli".

The top five finalist books are : The Anniversary by Andrea Bajani (Feltrinelli), What I Know About You by Nadia Terranova (Guanda), This Sea Is Lost by Elisabetta Rasy (Rizzoli), Paolo Nori with I Close the Door and Urlo (Mondadori) and Michele Ruol with Inventory of What Remains After the Forest Burns (TerraRossa).

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