PERUGIA–Umbria, a mountainous and fertile region that Italian poet Giosuè Carducci called “Italy’s green heart” is home to wine, art, and truffles. Journalists who have worked to enhance and promote Umbria’s heritage received the “Raccontami l’Umbria” Stories on Umbria Awards at the International Journalism Festival on Friday.
Spanish journalist Josep Palau received the “Tourism, Environment, Culture” award for an article about traveling through Umbria he wrote for National Geographic’s Spanish-language publication Viajes.
Silvia Frau received the “Umbria del Gusto” award for an article she wrote about Umbria’s cuisine including its truffles and olive presses for the magazine Bell’Italia.
Donatella Bianchi received the video award for her feature on Umbria’s Lake Trasimeno for the program “Linea Blu” on Italian state broadcaster Rai 1. Ms. Bianchi hosts “Linea Blu,” a well-known television show that tells stories about the sea.
“The priority for the show is the coasts. But I think that we have to always consider inland bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes as well as the sea,” Ms. Bianchi explained. “Basically we describe Lake Trasimeno as the sea of Umbria.”
Massimiliano Rella received the jury award for his work on Umbria’s wine cellars for the magazine InViaggio.
Alessandro Catanzaro and Elena Frasconi, both journalism trainees at the Perugia School of Journalism received the Schools of Journalism Prize for their story on the hundredth anniversary of Umbria’s National Gallery. They spent days visiting and studying the exhibition, then created two versions of the piece: a shorter version for local news and a longer version for other audiences, explained Ms. Frasconi.
Fellow journalism trainees Pietro Adami, Cristiana Mastronicola, and Elena Testi received special mention for the prize for a story on “Hidden Perugia.”
The chambers of commerce of Perugia and nearby Terni organized the awards, now in their ninth edition. Bruno Gambacorta, a well-known journalist for Rai, presided over the award jury.
Patience Haggin