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a short thread describing a prize I won yesterday, and the amazing people behind it: the Premio Nonino, which is given out by the @GrappaNonino family in Friuli. It started as a prize for local vintners, and for people doing good things in this rural region of northeast Italy...
but then they added a literary prize in the 1970s, and eventually a couple of international prizes in the 1980s. The jury is extraordinary: VS Naipaul chaired it for a long time, now it is Antonio Damasio, and includes the Irish writer John Banville among others
of course the prize advertises their distillery: the Nonino family make grappa. But it also brings people from around Italy, and around the world to a rural community.
the award ceremony is held in the distillery; 500 people come, from the region and from all over Italy. Local choirs, folk dancers - you name it, they do it 
they also celebrate local produce of course, including grapes, vegetables, grown only here. (and in addition to the literary prize, they still give awards to the people who grow them)
the town of Udine seems to take a lot of pride in the prize, and advertises it everywhere
Sometimes it seems like one of the most insurmountable gaps in the world, at the moment, is the one between people who live in cities and people who live in the countryside. This is the kind of event that could overcome them. That's all.
Sometimes it seems like one of the most insurmountable gaps in the world, at the moment, is the one between people who live in cities and people who live in the countryside. This is the kind of event that could overcome them. That's all.
Also: grappa
