VITTORIO BODINI AWARD

This project aims at commemorating and bringing prestige to Vittorio Bodini (1914-1960), a poet from Lecce who was very important in the Italian literature of the XX century.
In his famous poem, “La luna dei borboni”, he explicitly refers to Minervino di Lecce and, in particular, to Cocumola: “Un paese che si chiama Cocumola/ è/ come avere le mani sporche di farina/ e un portoncino verde color limone./ Uomini con camicie silenziose/ fanno un nodo al fazzoletto/ per ricordarsi del cuore./ Il tabacco è a seccare,/ e la vita Cocumola fra le pentole/ dove donne pennute assaggiano il brodo”. Starting from these short lines, and given that in Cocumola there are plenty of restaurants, in 2006 the local government decided to designate the Vittorio Bodini Award.
In past years, the Award obtained legal aid from the “Assessore al Mediterraneo della regione Puglia” (District Councillor for the Mediterranean), from “Provincia di Lecce” (Province of Lecce) and “Università degli studi di Lecce” (University of Lecce).
Recent times the Local Government, together with private sponsorship from local enterprises funded the award.
Many famous people took part in this cultural initiative in the past editions (whose artistic director was Fiorella Rizzo): the poets Elisa Biagini, Milo de Angelis, Maria Gallinari, Nanni Balestrini; the university lecturers Michele Mirabella, Antonio Errico, Piero Manni, Donato Valli, Luigi Giannone; the artists Massimo Mura (flamenco guitarist), Marina Tundo (soprano singer), Silvia Falco (Andalusian flamenco dancer), Assiane Diop (cajon percussionist) and the Vocal Trio Pupille Arciere.
In 2008 famous actor Bruno Armando took part in the initiative, along with many artists (Rosanna Francavilla, Marino Melarancio, Guendalina Salini), as well as the director Calantonio Mozzanti.
At the last event special guests included famous Italian novelist and poet Tiziano Scarpa. Moreover, the artist Carla Guido did an extraordinary performance  accompanied by a local ethnic group, followed by the famous SUD SOUND SYSTEM group. The final performance was attended by the President of the “Fondazione Garcia Lorca” (Garcia Lorca Foundation), Alfonso Alcalà Moreno and the President of the association “Pugliesi a Madrid” (People from Puglia in Madrid), Massimo Salerno. Additionally, Federico De Giorgi, a young actor, read some poems by Bodini accompanied by the saxophone of Raffaele Casarano.
In 2010, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of Bodini death, the local government is going to involve a larger audience (the University of  Catalugna and the suburbs of Madrid, where Bodini lived), in order to promote and to give more importance to the event.
Almost certainly a “Parco letterario” (literary park) will be founded in his honour so people will know the places that were renowned by the poet and inspiring his writing.