Verona Poetry Contest Honors Giuseppe Faccincani with New Cultural Recognition

The awards ceremony for the national poetry contest Grappolo d’oro will take place on Saturday morning at 10:45 in the council chamber. This event is promoted by the Municipal Administration.

The fourteen-year-old competition introduces a new feature this year: a special recognition of merit awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to culture and the arts.

The jury, presided over by Erasmo Leso, a professor at the Faculty of Humanities at the Università di Verona, has decided to posthumously award the prize to Giuseppe Faccincani, a journalist, former chief editor of L’Arena, and president of the Verona poetry circle. He was widely known among journalist colleagues as “il profe”.

The bronze plaque, created by sculptor Sergio Pasetto, will be presented on Saturday morning to the widow of the late colleague.

Recognition and Motivations

“In this way, we aimed,” explains Romano Brusco, the councilor responsible for culture, “to honor the figure of Faccincani, a respected journalist and literary man, always close to our poetry community.”

The Grappolo d’Oro competition, held every two years, offers, alongside the traditional sections in Italian and the dialect of the Triveneto region, a themed category.

This year’s theme focuses on “Il Benàco: beauty and richness of its land.”

Prizes and Special Awards

The prizes are substantial: first-place winners in each of the three sections will receive a check for one million lire and a golden bunch of grapes.

Six hundred thousand lire for second place, half a million for third, and three hundred thousand lire for fourth.

An gold medal will be awarded to the fifth-place finisher.

Additionally, two special awards are up for grabs: the gold medal from Giovanni Paolo II, the Pope, and the medal from the President of the Republic.

All proceedings and results from the last five editions will be compiled into a special publication.