Overview
- The final count, recorded Wednesday, showed Mari with 190 votes from 643 cast, ahead of Matteo Nucci (152), Bianca Pitzorno (84), Alcide Pierantozzi (78), Teresa Ciabatti (75) and Elena Rui (64).
- The award was presented in Rome's Piazza del Campidoglio for the first time, the ceremony was broadcast live on Rai 3, and Andrea Bajani presided over the vote tallying.
- Mari's candidacy had been disputed after private remarks about the late Michela Murgia were publicized in mid‑June, but the Fondazione Bellonci reiterated that the competition registers books not authors and entries cannot be withdrawn.
- I convitati di pietra, published by Einaudi, is a broadly accessible novel about a high‑school class that makes a long‑running pact to reward the last survivors and it previously won the Strega Giovani prize.
- The victory will boost Mari's public appearances and likely sales, underscores the role of publisher campaigns and the large cultural jury in shaping Strega outcomes, and coincided with the debut of a German Strega jury that awarded Pierantozzi a separate prize to be presented in Berlin.