to the memory of RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO - 2024
Musician and composer - Japan

For placing the fusion of Eastern ethnic music and Western electronic sounds at the center of his work. Japanese musician, composer and actor is considered among the pioneers.
His extensive solo discography (which includes over seventy different titles) spans numerous genres such as pop, electronic music, ambient, bossa nova, world music, and neoclassical music.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 07 june 2024

ORNELLA VANONI - 2018
Singer and Artist - ITALY

Ornella Vanoni is a great interpreter of the Italian song. His unique and distinctive style of interpretation characterizes his art, bringing to success songs of the most important Italian singer and songwriters.
His interpretations have involved various areas of society over the years: from the songs of mala to bossa nova and jazz. During his long career, he has participated in eight editions of the Sanremo Festival: in this last edition, Ornella Vanoni has been awarded the "Sergio Endrigo Award for best interpretation". In recognition of a long career and, in particular, the consistency with which he has traversed a long section of the history of Italian song, Ornella Vanoni is awarded the "Mediterranean Award for Art and Creativity" 2018.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 14 may 2018

PINO DANIELE - 2014
Singer and Artist - ITALY

The Mediterranean is not only a journey through geography, history, religions, traditions, wars, cultures, destiny…
It is above all art and music that characterize the cradle of our civilization. Pino Daniele represents the rare example of a person who, by matching cultural and musical contaminations, has been able to identify in the Mediterranean culture that mixture of sound and passion being the fundamental basis of his art.
Starting from Naples Pino Daniele has refashioned music and song through the emotions of conscience, by transferring to the peculiarity of his voice and his guitar those vibrations of soul that make him a unique protagonist of the “Song coming from the Sea”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 29 october 2014

in memory of LUCIO DALLA - 2013
Singer songwriter - ITALY

His artistic temperament above all found its expression in the “Sea”, the Mediterranean, which he travelled upon so many times, and where he found inspiration for his most beautiful and universal compositions. The Mediterraneity of Lucio Dalla transpires and gathers force in a mix of sounds, cries, whispers, musical murmurs, verses, grimaces, warbling and emotions which are deeply touching, leaving a pallet of indelible colours that communicate in other languages whose origins are found in different cultures, traditions and faiths.

Awarding Ceremony
Bologna, 04 March 2013

ANTONIO BORRELLI - 2012
Sculptor - ITALY

Whether as a sculptor of impressive abstract forms or designer of small refined jewellery with movable interlocking mechanisms, Antonio Borrelli has built his creative genius around the mastery of his “know-how” to such an extent that his inspiration or sensitivity never exceed his technical ability.
He is able to pass from monumental megastructures to microstructure utilitarian objects or jewellery peculiar to art of the last century, the twentieth century. Despite his inherently transient character, as with all definitions, the term “micromega artist” may be used describe motivation and the contradictory path taken by Antonio Borelli, as his inquiry into formal completeness trascends the ways in which plastic art and ornamental objects are used.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2012

GIUSEPPE ANTONELLO LEONE - 2012
ITALY

His artistic express evolved between the two opposite poles of figurative art, transfigured by his own brand of tragic surrealism and love for recuperated object, which he injects with powerful irony about postindustrial consumerism. In all his works, his skill in the transfiguration of forms pervades, which is expressed through his technical mastery.
His works are also an expression of Mediterranean Art. His major works include: the bronze panels of the Way of the Cross at the Church of Saint Peter in Camerellis di Salerno, the cycle of mosaics at the Seminary Church of Sessa Aurunca, the mosaic at the Church of Saint Anthony of Corleto Perticara, the fresco in the Church of Our Lady of Spinoso, the stained-glass window in the Cathedral of Benevento, three paintings in Church of Saint Anna in Potenza, the fresco in the Rocca dei Rettori in Benevento, the bronze panels for the cental door of the Cathedral of Messina.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2012

Associazione Italiana "AMICI DEL PRESEPIO" - 2011
Association Artistic-Cultural / Naples-Section - ITALY

For promoting the crib art across the world and for valorising the incessant work of all the craftsmen who hand down the ancient know-how related to the crib, which reflects the characteristics of a community and of an epoch, representing the great mystery of Jesus’ birth.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2011

ROBERTO DE SIMONE - 2010
Theatre director, Composer and Musicologist - ITALY

He has given an exemplary contribution to the history of lyric and the arts of show, especially as manager of the Teatro San Carlo of Naples. His primary objective has been that of restoring and valorizing the cultural, theatrical and musical heritage of the Campania region’s popular tradition, both written and oral. The popular repertoire is not proposed in an arbitrary way, but it is based on cultivated systems such as for instance writing and metric elaboration.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 26 march 2010

PINO CACOZZA - 2009
Actor, Musician - ITALY

Pino Cacozza has given expression to the collective consciousness of the Arbëreshe people. In his wide production of poems and songs he brings back to mind the latent memories of a community which is socially and politically melted into the Italian nation but is still preserving its historical and linguistic tradition. He prefers squares rather than theatres and in his performances he uses verses and music to exalt a whole people, renewing its roots, reinforcing its feeling of unity and swaying the audience in a choral brotherly dance at the end of the show.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 19 february 2009

RICHARD GALLIANO - 2008
Musician - FRANCE

For his great originality synthesising different musical experiences in a new interpretative key, made of improvisation and Mediterranean tradition, allowing the accordion to play as a protagonist in contemporary jazz.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2008

YUSUF ISLAM - 2007
Singer - REGNO UNITO

He gives voice to the feelings of universal fraternity and interreligious dialogue through the languages of popular music: notes and words which transmit not only deep emotions, but also common values shared by men of good will, beyond all social, cultural or ideological barrier.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2007

RINO VOLPE - 2006
Painter - ITALY

For Rino Volpe, artistic research means research of oneself. With his father Pietro and his wife Maria Sofia, he opened the Gallery “Il Diagramma 32” in Naples: the cultural point of reference in the city until the 90s. His interest is particularly focused on signs and writings which, in his work “Soprappensieri”, lead him to insert quotations drawn from philosophers and poets who celebrate, like “the numbers and the alphabet”, the “Mediterran mood” with their own substance of “being” but especially with that of “existing”. His work is a reference point of modern art and, in spite of the Babel of languages, he is never tired of inventing new ones everyday because, as Orsini states, “art always gives a further meaning to things, making them signs”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 21 january 2006

CHEB KHALED - 2006
Singer - ALGERIA

For his contribution, through his art, in promoting the importance of dialogue among cultures demonstrating how music is a language able to bring people and countries together and to foster both synergies and trades, which constitute the basis for shared development and peace.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2006

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER - 2006
Singer - USA

For her ability in combining her vocal style with the African and Mediterranean rhythms. The awareness of the power of music to promote dialogue and inner feelings enabled her to help many people who, thanks to her songs filled with a remarkable Mediterranean feel, regained a new will to live.

Awarding CeremonyNaples, 4 january 2006

GIUSEPPE FERRIGNO - 2005
Craftsman - ITALY

This award underlines the importance of Ferrigno’s works in preserving and diffusing the traditional Neapolitan craft of hand-made nativity scenes.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 19 december 2005

TEATRO SAN CARLO - 2003/2004
Sovrintendente Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi - ITALY

For its exemplary contribution to the history of grand opera and to the art of entertainment since 1737, the year in which it was founded by Carlo di Borbone. The San Carlo Theatre has added a Mediterranean dimension to its prestigious history when its chorus performed the “Hymn of the Mediterranean”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 14 september 2003

CARLA GUIDO - 2003
Actress - ITALY

She has been able, through her exceptional and cathartic interpretation, to make absolute the drama of the feminine universe, subordinate and victim of violence in a story written with blood.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 14 march 2003

MONI OVADIA - 2002
Singer, Actor - ISRAELE

The search for novelty in life, custom and thought, which has been the dynamic force of the West since its first establishment, has frantically accelerated towards “modernity”. With regard to the societies which have rigorously maintained their traditions as concepts and custom as well as social order and even the forms of art, literature and language, “modernity” has an impact giving rise to a turbulence which – unlike invasions and wars that are suddenly upsetting but rapidly subsiding – can hardly calm down since “modernity” is violently confronted to convictions and habits, so it upsets well‑established economies, imposes to break the fabric in which everyone is contained but sure, blocked but steady, it liberates the individual and pushes him towards perspectives launched over nothingness. A deep, unprepared and unexpected break, giving rise to hopes that are not realized, bearing an illegible message. In the entire non-Western World, particularly in the Islamic World which in this situation cannot even find the promises of Greek philosophy that had nourished the West and that Islam itself had in part given back to it by Its falsafa, the consequences of that impact are overwhelming, they provoke oppositions which rigidly cling to the past. Facing such a great preclusion and violence, it is very difficult to try to promote mutual understanding and start a dialogue. It is with this aim that Moni Ovadia has dedicated, with passion and endurance, his constant work of research and invention to the revival and re-interpretation of ancient Sephardic and Arabic songs from the XIII and XIV century, recalling the common roots of those cultures that are today taken as ground for confrontation by peoples who, instead, cannot attain their renaissance without new cooperation and harmony.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2002

NOA and NABIL - 2001
Singers - ISRAELE / PALESTINA

In a delicate moment of the relations between Israeli and Palestinian peoples, Noa and Nabil, two of the most famous Middle-Eastern musicians – Noa Israeli and Nabil Palestinian – have chosen to perform together, testifying the need of dialogue to settle conflicts. Noa and Nabil are strongly related by a common action expressed by the musical projects of the two groups arising from the wish of encounter. Radiodervish music (from “dar” “wish”: visitors of power) comes from Nabil’s will to combine the sonority of melody with the roots of Arab tradition. The rhythm – universal language – is the focus of the music of Noa, daughter of Israel grown in the Bronx, while her jazz training is the background of her songs. Noa’s and Nabil’s commitment for peace is the primary aim of their art, constantly pursued by both of them and recognized by their respective peoples. Recent history has abruptly put Israel and Palestine at the centre of international attention. Both populations are paying a very high price in terms of human lives and the peace process appears, day after day, farther and farther. That’s why any action aiming at promoting dialogue and cooperation between the two peoples is now indispensable and in this process the joint action undertaken by Noa and Nabil assumes an important and significant value. For these reasons, Fondazione Mediterraneo and Accademia del Mediterraneo grant to Noa and Nabil the Mediterranean Art and Creativity Award 2001, in acknowledgment of their will and ability to use the universal language of music as a peace tool.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2001

in memory of KENZABURŌ ŌE - 2024
Writer - JAPAN

For placing writing and culture at the centre of his work and, in particular, his passion for Dante Alighieri. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994, in his book "Notes on Hiroshima" (1965) Kenzaburō Ōe describes his moving recollection, tells of the many victims - young people, old people, women and children - caused by that explosion, but also of the valiant efforts made in those terrible moments, and in the years to come, by doctors and survivors: he thus denounces the enormitỳ of the devastation wrought, but at the same time a sweet and sensitive portrait of the people of that destroyed city comes to life.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 07 june 2024

in memory of CHARLES SIMIĆ - 2024
Poet - SERBIA

He was an American poet and translator of Serbian origin. He began his career in the first half of the 1970s with a minimalist literary style, which over time became increasingly recognisable. He wrote thoughtfully on a variety of topics, from jazz to art to philosophy. He has exerted a considerable influence not only as a poet, but also as a translator, essayist and philosopher, commenting on the current state of American poetry.
In 1990, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his work The World Doesn't End. His poems are "tightly constructed like Chinese boxes" and Simić said of himself: "The words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is but the astonished spectator".

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 07 june 2024

PASQUALE BELFIORE - 2024
Architect and Lecturer at the Federico II University of Naples - ITALY

For over fifty years of exceptional cultural commitment with primary roles in the University, IN/Arch - National Institute of Architecture, and the Municipality of Naples (he oversaw the UNESCO Management Plan). A consultant to the Ministry of Culture for contemporary architecture, he currently chairs the Foundation "Annals of Architecture and the City". A historian of the highest calibre, author of countless texts (in volumes, international specialist journals, major national newspapers), he has always been sensitive to the future of the contemporary city.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 03 june 2024

MOHAMED ZINELABIDINE - 2018
Minister of Cultural Affairs of the Republic of Tunisia
TUNISIA

During a ceremony held at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Tunis, international juries have assigned to S.E. Mohamed Zinelabidine - Minister of Cultural Affairs of the Republic of Tunisia - the "Mediterranean Award for Culture 2018".
The award was presented by the president Michele Capasso.

Awarding Ceremony
Tunis, 30 october 2018

KHALID BIN AL KHALIFA - 2018
Direttore esecutivo dell’ISA Cultural Center - KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

A Khalid bin Khalifa al Khalifa per i suoi sforzi riguardanti la diversità culturale ed il dialogo interreligioso.
Nella sua qualità di Direttore esecutivo dell’ISA Cultural Center si è prodigato per l’affermazione del rispetto tra le diverse culture e fedi religiose quale patrimonio dell’umanità. La sua azione, apprezzata in tutto il mondo, è oggi più che mai necessaria per la difesa dei diritti dell’uomo e per un duraturo dialogo capace di diffondere e consolidare una grande coalizione di valori e di interessi condivisi.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 03 may 2018

S.E. Dr. MANA SAEED AL-OTAIBA - 2015
Ex Ministro del petrolio e delle risorse minerarie degli Emirati Arabi Uniti
EMIRATI ARABI UNITI

Il Premio Mediterraneo per la Poesia e l'Innovazione viene assegnato al dottor Mana Saeed Al-Otaiba per il suo impegno per l'alleanza tra le civiltà, il rispetto per la diversità e la convivenza pacifica tra popoli diversi. Mana Saeed Al Otaiba è un esempio della grande e vera tradizione arabo-mediterranea, che unisce la passione della letteratura, della poesia, dell''arte... Durante la sua carriera, il dottor Mana Saeed Al-Otaiba ha introdotto innovazione, nello spirito delle sue poesie.

Awarding Ceremony
Marrakech, 12 june 2015

ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD BABTAIN - 2015
Presidente della Fondazione “Abdulaziz Al Saud-Babtain
EMIRATI ARABI UNITI

Il “Premio Mediterraneo per la Cultura 2015” è stato attribuito al prof. Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain per il ruolo e gli sforzi nella diffusione della cultura della pace, riunendo gruppi di intellettuali, statisti e leader di tutto il mondo.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 21 october 2015

KHALID H. AL-MALIK - 2015
Professore - EMIRATI ARABI UNITI

The "Mediterranean Award for Culture 2015" was awarded to Prof. Khalid H. Al-Malik for his efforts in favour of the Alliance between civilisations and peaceful coexistence between the different peoples of the world. Khalid H. Al-Malik is an example of a great Arab tradition that combines the passion of journalism with a taste for the truth of facts.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 21 october 2015

DAVID ABULAFIA - 2014
UNITED KINGDOM

To the merits acquired with his studies on the history of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. Among his books: Frederick II, a medieval emperor (1990), The kingdoms of the western Mediterranean 1200-1500 (1999) The discovery of humanity, Atlantic encounters in the age of Columbus (2010). In his book ‘The Great Sea’ (English edition, “The Great Sea”, 2010), David Abulafia describes the Mediterranean as the most dynamic place for interaction between different societies on the face of the planet: a space in the history of human civilization has played a much more significant role than any other stretch of water.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 13 january 2014

ANTONINE NASRI MESSARRA - 2013
Professor, Journalist -LIBANO

An intellectual and a professor at several European universities, President of the Lebanese Political Science Association, through his many publications Antoine Nasri Messarra has promoted the dissemination of culture as a tool of dialogue and peace in the Mediterranean and throughout the world.
His publications on Religion and Politics in Arab PoliticalSsystems (1993); the Democratic Construction (1995) and Tomorrow’s Citizen (3 vol.,1995-1998) are central to understanding cultural evolution in Arab countries.
As a member of the Consultative Council of the Annan Lindh Foundation, he has laid down the guidelines of a new cultural challenge in the Arab Spring countries. His action is a point of reference for those who rely on culture for building democracy and a future for young people.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 05 april 2013

Giovani della "PRIMAVERA ARABA" - 2012
SYRIA - EGYPT - TUNISIA - LIBYA

This Award is bestowed upon youth representatives in Syriak Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, who thanks to their actions and conviction, especially through the use of new means of communication, brought about the capitulation of dictatorial regimes and enabled the difficult path towards Democracy and Freedom to be undertaken.

Awarding CeremonyNicosia, 10 november 2012

BICHARA KHADER - 2011

The Mediterranean “Culture” Award 2011 was attributed to Prof. Bichara Khader (Palestine) for his action in favour of dialogue and peace.
The awarding ceremony was held in Barcelona on October 7th 2011 at Pedralbes Palace – seat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UpM) – in the presence of UpM Secretary General Youssef Amrani.

Awarding Ceremony
Barcellona, 07 october 2011

ROBERTO VECCHIONI - 2011
Professor, Songwriter - ITALY

For his contribution to the spreading of the value of culture and music as a fundamental instrument for dialogue, cooperation and solidarity among populations.

Awarding Ceremony
Turin, 16 march 2011

in memory of MARIO MOLINARI - 2010
Sculptor - ITALY

Mario Molinari was born in Coazze in 1930. He became manager of the paper mill Sartorio, then he realized that he was born for the Art. His sculpture is meant to stimulate soul ironically, he makes a weapon out of the colour, a power able to overthrow reality. His polyhedric subjects and materials lead his sculptures to the greatest expression, almost touching the fourth dimension. By his sculpture “Totem for Peace” – recognized as such all over the world – Molinari intended to refer to our purest and most infantile soul so as to produce an extraordinary “noise of love”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 13 june 2010

in memory of MAURIZIO VALENZI - 2010
Artist - ITALY

Maurizio Valenzi, born in Tunis in a family from Livorno, started his activity as a painter attending for some years the Fine Art Academy of Tunis. In June 1932, coming back to Tunisia in Chaffar area, he promoted the union struggle of Arab labourers against the great European landowners. In 1937, in Paris, he met various protagonists of the new French culture, such as Tristan Tzara, Paul Eluard, Aragon, André Wumser, J.R. Bloch and studied the works of the Impressionists and of the Ecole de Paris. His artistic activity brings together the two shores of the Mediterranean bridging the “European thought” and the “Mediterranean breath”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 13 june 2010

alla memoria di S.E. Mons. LUIGI PADOVESE - 2010
Vicar Apostolic in Anatolia - ITALY

Born in Milan in 1947, he enters the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin in 1965. He is professor at the Pontifical Antonianum University and has been the Director of the Institute of Spirituality for sixteen years. He has been visitor of the Eastern Council of the Congregation for Eastern Churches for ten years. On 11th October 2004 he is appointed Vicar Apostolic of Anatolia. On 3 rd June 2010, he was stabbed to death by his driver in his house of Iskenderun, a Turkish city on the Mediterranean. The members of the Jury of the “Mediterranean Award”, gathered in Goteborg (Sweden) on 6th November 2009 and in Naples on 4th December 2009, granted the “Mediterranean Award for Culture” to Monsignor Luigi Padovese for the following reason: “As he has always witnessed – with perseverance, commitment and generosity – the universal values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding, promoting peaceful coexistence of different religions all over the world, and mainly in the Middle East. He has opposed his huge culture to the widespread ignorance often at the origin of fundamentalism and integralism, looking for a future of solidarity and peace”. On 5 th June 2010, after the assassination of Msgr Luigi Padovese, the Jury of the “Mediterranean Award”, during an ad-hoc session in Rome, decided to reconfirm the award to “his memory”, highlighting the importance of the cultural activity in favour of dialogue carried out by Mgr Luigi Padovese, as an example for future generations.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 13 june 2010

PEGASO TELEMATIC UNIVERSITY - 2010
Thelematic University - ITALY

Fondazione Mediterraneo assigned this award to Pegaso University for being a focal point and an innovating example in international research and for being an instrument to promote dialogue among civilizations and culture.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2010

CARMEN ROMERO - 2009
President of Circulo Mediterraneo - SPAIN

She is the founder of the Circúlo Mediterraneo and this award wants to pay tribute to her actions in promoting integration among politics, culture and civil society in the Mediterranean area. Her action strengthens the initiatives in favour of the respect of human rights and gender equality.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 16 february 2009

STUDENTS OF GAZA - 2009
PALESTINE

In the city of Gaza, caught in the grip of an inexorable paralysis, living in poverty with little livelihood, among endless problems, young people don’t give way to despondency and desolation but look for everything that may enlighten and feed their mind. They are self-educated, they exchange information and educational tools and transcribe any uplifting or useful reading accessible to one of them, supporting each other spurred by that human ambition described as “seguir virtute e canoscenza” in Dante’s words. This prize aims to remember them to the world that has left them alone, even ignoring the UN declarations, and hides this action of abandon behind the ambiguous language highlighted by Joris Luyendijk in “Almost human. Images from the Near East”, of 2006.

Awarding Ceremony
Gaeta, 27 march 2009

WASSYLA TAMZALI - 2008
Writer - ALGERIA

For her cultural work which testifies the liberation war in Algeria through the painful events of its protagonists. For expressing, with her work, the multiple dimensions and contradictions of the South Shore, suffering victim of the colonial age and of the unexpected post-colonial drifts which attempt on individual liberties and rights, undermining the principles of freedom whereof the Euro-Mediterranean culture is a proud protagonist and witness. For giving voice to abuses of power which women are victims in all patriarchal and sexist cultures of the Mediterranean.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 19 february 2009

'ALA AL ASWANI - 2007
Writer - EGYPT

Writer and novelist, he goes on representing through his narration the contemporary Egyptian society with all its social and psychological problems and as they are revelated in the encounter and strife among people of different ages, gender and status. Through these pictures a transformation process gets to develop which is suffered by the Arab society in a rapid changing of a world and in difficult relation with the West which transform it.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 16 march 2007

GERARDO MAROTTA - 2007
President of Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies - ITALY

The prize was awarded to the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies and to its President and founder, Gerardo Marotta. For years he played the role of ethical and moral guide, he embodies the values of dialogue and cultural integration. With the actions carried out, he made Naples the point of reference of the ancient Euro-Mediterranean culture promoting the idea of the World and of the Human beings in their mutual sense of belonging. He affirms, at the same time, the values of the individual and of the community, in the constitution of the “Polis” and of the “Common Good”.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 janvier 2007

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ALGIERS - 2006
Director General Amin Zaoui - ALGERIA

He played an important role in the approach among cultures, for his efforts on the national and international context in favour of the diffusion of books and literature and, consequently, for the development of dialogue among cultures and civilisations in the region of the Greater Mediterranean.

Awarding CeremonyAlgeri, 25 february 2006

MOHAMED KABBAJ - 2005
President of the Fèz Festival of World Sacred Music - MOROCCO

He carried out a great work of spiritual dialogue which reminds us, both through the performances of Fez Festival and through his speeches, a message of Mediterranean humanism, that contributes to the spread of the highest values of culture and civilization.

Awarding Ceremony
Casablanca, 22 november 2005

MATEJA MATEVSKI - 2005
Writer - MACEDONIA

Born in 1929, he was educated in the war period in that spirit of freedom and political and national renaissance which brought to the revolt of the peoples who constituted Yugoslavia. Starting from the second part of the 20th century, his poetic works have marked with an original and indelible voice the development of the new Macedonian literature within Balkan culture like a lyric reflection of universal value expressed in a clear and perfect shape. A further testimony that small nations are not minor nations and, thanks to their scholars, they are able to give a significant contribution to the richness of human culture.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 25 february 2005

KAMEL ZOHERI - 2004
President of the Council of the Great Cairo Library - EGYPTT

He gave a great contribution to the promotion of dialogue and intercultural communication among the Countries of the Islamic-Arab World and the West. He is one of the protagonists on the cultural scene of Egypt and one of the great persons of culture of this century.

Awarding Ceremony
Il Cairo, 4 december 2004

SUZANNE MUBARAK - 2003
President of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EGYPT

She played a leading role in the realisation of the project of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina: its rebirth is an act of faith to the memory of a people and, at the same time, of a cultural which belongs to humanity.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 9 september 2003

S.E. Cardinale Roger Etchegaray - 2001
ITALY

Following Pope John Paul II’s recommendations, he launched a dissemination process for dialogue among religions and cultures. He accomplished this through liturgy but also through well chosen new technologies and channels of new communication and information.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 january 2001

REPUBLIC OF MALTA - 2000
MALTA

The Republic of Malta is a unique example in the Mediterranean. History and culture of Maltese islands are mingled with those of Europe and of the Mediterranean across the centuries, since the prehistoric period, when the archipelago was part of a vast territory extending from Northern Africa to Europe. Megalithic monuments, erected at Xaghra, are considered the most ancient in the world: Ggantilia temples, built around 300 B.C., before Egyptian pyramids. Later on Malta was ruled by various peoples among which Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs: a mingling of knowledge, religions, traditions and destinies which make this island in the middle of the Mediterranean a priceless cultural heritage. However, those who left a decisive mark were the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, by chasing off the Turks of Solyman the Magnificent and turning the island into a true cultural deposit. Today the Republic of Malta has undertaken the journey towards Europe. Prof. Guido de Marco is one of the authors of this process. Foreign Minister for a long period and today President of the Republic, he has been able to embody the three Mediterranean “Forces”, showing in his action the experience of a political man as well as that of man of culture and economics. Today this global vision enables the Republic of Malta, under the leadership of President de Marco, to play an important role in the cultural, social and economic partnership between the European Union and Mediterranean Countries: a vital function for the future of the Region and for the preservation of its ancient culture in a period in which the risks of flattening deriving from the globalisation process are well known by everybody.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 5 janvier 2000

S.M. HUSSEIN BIN TALAL - 1999
King of the Hashemite Kingdom of JORDAN

During 46 years of Reign, His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal worked relentlessly for a long-lasting peace and for the development of mutual comprehension and respect between the people of Jordan and the rest of the Middle East. In addition, he worked to attain a level of cultural tolerance and comprehension, free artistic expression and exchange between different cultures and religions, supporting national and international prestigious artists and intellectuals to practise their culture and creativity without restraint. Through local and International cultural festivals, exhibitions, meetings, scholarships and training programmes, the Government and private organizations have always been encouraged to support the free expression of traditional and contemporary culture, art and literature in all their forms, as well as establishing and maintaining relations between local communities and famous national and international artists for a free exchange of ideas and cultural expressions that can one day be the foundations for a world of peace and cooperation for future generations. His Majesty King Hussein is the author of a ‘culture of peace’ in the Arab World: for these reasons the Fondazione Mediterraneo, with the Accademia del Mediterraneo, has granted to H.M. King Hussein bin Talal the Mediterranean Award for Culture 1999.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 5 janvier 1999

S.M. JUAN CARLOS I - 1998
King of SPAGNA

He has been able to use the monarchy as a tool of a secure and flourishing transition. With discretion and determination he has pushed hard reintegration of Spain in the concert of a renovated Western world by suggesting with the diversity of the policies the unity of the final outcome and the balance of the autonomies and the respect of the different Iberian cultures, as well as solidarity among people who have been tied by a common history in the past centuries.

Awarding Ceremony
Palermo, 1 october 1998

LAMPA CU CACIULA / IL TAPPO DELLA VALVOLA - 2007
Best short‑film by Romanian director Radu Jude

For the sincere way everyday life is portrayed in a country which has become part of the European Union but it has just started to struggle for the European way of living. It is a small story about small characters whose names will not be remembered but the mature direction of the film is something not to forget.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 25 january 2007

SLAVEK THE SHIT - 2006
Best short‑film by director Grimur Hakonarson

For the originality and the bitter irony in dealing with such a harsh and difficult subject and for the remarkable performance of the actors, particularly the male leading one, who since the very beginning manages to arouse our interest to his character and involves us into whole story.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 26 january 2006

DVER - 2005
Best short‑film by Russian director Vladimir Kott

The jury of the “short film competition” composed by Jana Cisar, Mauro Santini, Joseph Togneri has granted the International Award Laboratorio Mediterraneo to DVER´ for the poetic simplicity by which the director has been able to show life on the screen. The film tells a number of small stories in a surprising and humoristic way.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 27 january 2005

AM SEE - 2004
Best short‑film German director Ulrike von Ribbeck

Little Jacob is travelling with his parents and sister. The four stop on the banks of a lake, in which father and son decide to go for a swim. At a certain point, the man leaves the water and Jacob remains alone in the middle of the lake. One can survive infancy even in an absent‑minded family.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 22 january 2004

MY ZIVJOM NA KRAJU - 2003
Best short‑film the Bielorussian director Viktor Asliuk

Because, directed in a superb way, this film shows the rude life of Bielorussian farmers on the background of magnificent landscapes. A sober comment offscreen about pictures of women and men showing their hard living conditions. Wonderful shots, beautiful lights and sequences like a tragic classic painting.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 23 january 2003

INT. HOTEL NUIT - 2002
Best short‑film by Swiss director Elena Hazanov

A film offering several interpretations in its short running time. From the reversal of man‑woman role to the confrontation between two cultures, to the conflict between language and body. The narration has a light touch and a deep irony.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 24 january 2002

PAD / LA CADUTA - 2001
Best short‑film by Czech director Aurel Klimt

The Fondazione Mediterraneo attributed the International Award Laboratorio Mediterraneo 2001 to Aurel Klimt for his remarkable animation work containing a dramatical subject in a funny and folkloristic frame.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 24 january 2001

LENDULET / MOMENTO - 2000
Best short‑film by Hungarian director Imre Juhàsz

The Prize was awarded to “Lendulet” because among the different heterogeneous competing works, the film stood out for the quality of sound, photography and the narrative technique chosen.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 22 january 2000

UN ACCENTO PERFETTO - 1999
Best short‑film by Italian director Nicola Sornaga

Extremely high and interesting short‑film which, through its manipulations, its blending of arts and genres, tries to express what cannot be expressed. This work draws an unknown reality and wises up to original rips of the present world.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 24 january 1999

MOJA DOMOVMA - 1998
Best short‑film by Yugoslavian director jugoslavo Milos Radovic'

Moja Domovma by Milos Radovic (Federal Republic of Jugoslavia) represents an ironical and grotesque picture of the present reality of ex-Jugoslavia.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 18 january 1998