LericiPea Poetry Prize "Ligurians in the World"

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Founded in 1954 as the “Lerici” Prize at the behest of Renato Righetti, Giovanni Petronilli, Marco Carpena and Enrico Pea, it became the LericiPea Prize in 1958, in homage to Enrico Pea who had just passed away.

In 1994, the LericiPea Poetry Prize “Ligurians in the World” section of the LericiPea Poetry Prize was born, and in 2018 it also added the name “Gulf of Poets” to the award.

The first participants sent their poems from America, Switzerland and Germany and they were rarely poems written in a good level of the Italian language.

It was often an “invented”, archaic language, a mix of old local dialects of the places from which parents or grandparents had emigrated many years ago and of the linguistic structures of the countries in which they lived.

The main feature of the moving writings, especially at the beginning, was the fact that they evoked a strong need to remain connected to the motherland.

Among the first winners of the award are: in 1994 Sergio Wax , a Genoese who emigrated to Brazil in Bèlem; in 1995 Lionello Grifo, from an ancient Genoese family, interpreter in the political sphere in Luxembourg, Brussels and Geneva and then resident in Spain.

In the 2000s, the edition of the prize opened its horizons, dedicating itself not only to Ligurian poets abroad but also to writers and artists.

Already in 2001 Sandra Mortola Gilbert, not only a poet, but an American literary critic, won the prize.

In 2015 it underwent a new expansion thanks to the architect Lucilla Del Santo, who transformed it into the most heterogeneous and, without a doubt, one of the most significant sections of the LericiPea Award, again with the support of the Liguria Region.

Today it is no longer aimed only at poets, writers and artists, but at all Ligurians who, in every field and in every profession, have distinguished themselves by becoming ambassadors of Ligurian excellence in the world, raising the level of competition a lot.

In 2016 the sound engineer was awarded Tommaso Colliva, who from the Gulf of Poets (Lerici) settled in America, becoming a point of reference for the greatest of rock music, to the point of winning a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album (DRONES, by the Rock Band MUSE, of which he is the artistic producer).

In 2020/21/22 the importance of three other great personalities was recognized: Renzo Piano, Stefano Giovannoni and Mario Cresci.