The former president of the Venice Biennale, Roberto Cicutto, will lead the jury of writers of the 64th edition of the Campiello Prize. Manager and film producer, he succeeds Giorgio Zanchini, at the helm for just one edition, after Walter Veltroni’s four-year period.
Alongside Cicutto, there are three other new entries on the jury: Matteo Caccia, author and radio host known for his storytelling projects; Stefano Mancuso, world-renowned scientist and popularizer, director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology; and Alessandra Tedesco, Radio 24 journalist and presenter of the literary column “Il hunter of books”.
The other members of the jury, confirmed, are: Alessandro Beretta, journalist and literary critic; Daniela Brogi, professor of contemporary Italian literature at the University for Foreigners of Siena; Daria Galateria, professor of French literature at La Sapienza University of Rome; Rita Librandi, professor emerita of Italian Linguistics; Liliana Rampello, literary critic and essayist; Stefano Salis, responsible for the Comments and Sunday pages of Sole 24 Ore; Lorenzo Tomasin, professor of Romance Philology at the University of Lausanne; and Roberto Vecchioni, singer-songwriter, writer and university professor.
Born in Venice in 1948, Roberto Cicutto linked his career to film production and distribution, founding historic companies such as Aura Film, with which in 1988 he won the Golden Lion in Venice with The legend of the holy drinker by Ermanno Olmi, and Mikado Film, active in the production and distribution of Italian and international films. During his career he has held important positions in the public sector, leading the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà as president and CEO and presiding over the Venice Biennale in the four-year period 2020-2023. He is currently president of the supervisory board of Siae and, since January 2025, president of Eurimages, the Council of Europe fund for film co-productions.
With the definition of the jury of writers, the new edition of the Campiello Prize officially begins. Novels published for the first time in volume between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026 and regularly on the market are eligible to participate. Neither non-fiction, nor poetry, nor works translated into Italian from other languages are admitted to the competition. On May 29, 2026, the jury of writers will meet in Padua to select the five finalists and announce the Opera Prima prize. The winner, indicated by the jury of three hundred anonymous readers, will be proclaimed on Saturday 3 October, at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido of Venice.
