Maps for orienting yourself amidst chaos: Sele d'Oro seeks fixed points. The 41st edition of the award is presented.

The 41st edition of the Sele d'Oro Mezzogiorno Award will be held from Thursday, September 4th to Saturday, September 13th in Oliveto Citra (Salerno) . "Maps. Territories in motion within complexity" is the theme chosen for 2025, the focus of the event organized by the Municipality of Oliveto Citra and the Sele d'Oro Award Organization, with the support of the Campania Region and the Salerno Chamber of Commerce, and with the patronage of the Senate of the Republic, among others. Many personalities from the Italian cultural, journalistic, business, political, and artistic worlds will be making an appearance in Oliveto Citra. Among them are Nello Musumeci , Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies of Italy; Antonio Polito , journalist and editorialist for Corriere della Sera; Claudio Gubitosi , founder and director of the Giffoni Film Festival; and Professor Vincenzo Schettini with "The Physics We Like." The inauguration ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 4th, at 6:30 pm, at the Sandro Rufolo Ecotheatre. We live, perhaps more than ever, in a time of widespread confusion, at every level. Each of us, to avoid getting lost in this confusion, must have a clearer map to follow. Villages, towns, Italy, Europe, the entire world need it,” says the mayor of Oliveto Citra, Mino Pignata . “Where is the world going? Observing what is happening, I wouldn't even call it a regression of humanity, but rather a failure of humanity. Therefore, in this complex world, in these confusing times, to avoid getting lost, to avoid becoming depressed, each of us must seek our own fixed points from which to start and towards which to move. In other words, each of us needs our own map.” The message emanating from the Award is positive: "The image of the Sele d'Oro 2025, developed by Elia Rapuano of Noema Comunicazione, begins with the complexity of the genome," Pignata explains. "A genome that is complex, but also contains the possibility that one nucleotide pairs with another and encodes a gene, a small stretch of DNA, which encodes a protein that is the protein of salvation, the protein of love, of relationships, of peace. It may seem utopian," he concludes, "but we must not lose hope. And in fact, Hope also appears in the Manifesto of this edition of the Award."

For the 41st edition of the Prize, the poster is by Sardinian artist Piero Ligas and depicts Speranza, a young girl dressed in white standing on a meadow where the DNA symbol can be glimpsed. Above, the sky is ablaze with the flashes of explosions from ongoing wars. But at the foot of the Oliveto Citra castle, depicted on the mountains behind her, everything becomes serene, with colors that convey calm and allow Speranza to look straight ahead, toward the future. This year, the work has once again become a fine art lithograph thanks to the collaboration of PrintLitoArt of Arti Grafiche Boccia.

As every year, the Award is divided into several sections. The fulcrum around which the event revolves is the Sele d'Oro cultural call for proposals , divided into the sections Nonfiction Volumes, Euromed (unpublished essays), the Michele Tito Prize for Journalism, Bona Praxis (dedicated to development projects), and Bona Praxis Young “Mario Raffa,” dedicated to development projects promoted by young people between 18 and 35.

Still on the subject of visual arts, as part of the Award, on Friday, September 5th, at 11:00 a.m., Rai journalist Patrizia Angiolini will open the art exhibition "Gocce d'Acqua" at Castello Guerritore. This traveling exhibition was conceived and curated by Giuseppe Ottaiano and created by artists and students from Campania's art high schools. They have interpreted the theme of water through wooden "drops," each unique and different from the next, painted according to the artist's own sensibility.

The Award is once again being launched by Sele Teatro Fest – Il mondo in scena , the international theatre festival under the artistic direction of Antonio Caponigro. From Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th September, theatre companies from Italy and countries such as Latvia , Lithuania , Iran , and Morocco will be performing in Oliveto Citra.

For the 2025 edition of the Award, the Sele d'oro Telling section returns, a section based on the telling of life stories, spanning past and present. The three evenings, scheduled for September 8th, 10th, and 11th at the EcoTeatro Rufolo, will feature Erica Nava, actress and playwright, co-founder of the PoEM theater company; the video creator of Ottaviano Daniele Ciniglio; Gianpaolo Imbriani; and the promise made to his brother Carmelo, a Napoli footballer who passed away prematurely.

The BiblioCafè returns for its 41st edition, featuring Author Meetings at the Sele d'Oro. The section is enriched by the BiblioCafè project for the Sele Tanagro , created with the support of the Fondazione Con il Sud and the Center for Books and Reading.

Smartcafè 025 is also back, offering workshops for local youth to explore topics ranging from theater to entrepreneurship. This year's highlight will be the meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 11th, at 5:00 PM in Piazza Garibaldi, titled "Robots-Humans: Coexistence Possible." The speakers will be Teotronico, a robot that sings and plays music, and Robotanica, a robot that is both a presenter and singer.

The collaboration with the Giffoni Film Festival is renewed with SudShortFilms – Southern Short Film Contest , scheduled for Friday, September 12, at 8:30 pm, in the regional auditorium. Claudio Gubitosi, creator and founder of the Giffoni Film Festival, will participate.

Other events are also scheduled. On September 9th, at 9:00 PM in Piazza Garibaldi, Giulio Casale will present "In direzione ostinata e contraria," a tribute to the career of Fabrizio De André. Professor Vincenzo Schettini returns to Oliveto Citra on September 13th with "La Fisica che ci piace."

Also this year there are numerous seminars scheduled for the Sele d'Oro Talks section, scheduled in the regional auditorium at 6:30 p.m. The event begins on September 7th with a discussion titled "Spaces of Transition. Female Thought as a Crossing of Borders." On September 8th, the discussion will focus on "Reading Maps. Economic Scenarios for 2025, a Year That Transformed the World?", a conversation between Corriere della Sera journalist Nicola Saldutti and the leader of the historic Rummo pasta company. Following this, at 7:30 p.m., Paolo Siani will remember his brother Giancarlo, a journalist from the newspaper Il Mattino who was killed by the Camorra 40 years ago . On September 9th, "Social Contexts: Love That Hurts, the Sentimental Education of New Adolescents," with Stefano Rossi, while on the 10th, the focus will be on the topic of "Internal Areas: Why Focus on Villages." On September 11th, the discussion will focus on "Artificial Intelligence: How It Is Changing Us, How It Will Change Us. Opportunities, Risks, and Skills." Finally, on September 12th, Alfonso Ruffo will interview Antonio Polito on the topic of "Imagining the Time Ahead." The final conference will be held on September 13th at 11:30 a.m., again at the Provincial Auditorium, with the winners of the 41st edition of the Sele d'Oro Mezzogiorno Award. Nello Musumeci, Italy's Minister of Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, will also be present.

The 2025 edition of the Award will close with " Mediterranei ," scheduled for September 13th in Piazza Europa at 9:00 pm. The full program of the event is available on the website www.seledoro.eu .