Italian Research Day 2022

Research and innovation are two keywords for @cmlericifoundation.

Every year the Foundation grants several scholarships to Italian and Swedish citizens in order to support the cultural and scientific exchange between the two countries. 

Today, on the occasion of the #researchday2022, we would like to congratulate all the Lerici Foundation’s fellows involved in every fields of the scientific research, from physics to renewable energy. 

Your job is important for the world’s development, and we are glad to have been part of your paths. 

You can find many of the students and researchers’ stories on the Foundation’s social accounts and website. 

What’s next? 

Swedish Stories

My name is Giuseppe P Cirigliano and I am an Italian student of archaeology at the GTARC-Master Universitario di II livello in Geotecnologie per l’Archeologia at Dipartimento di scienze storiche e dei beni culturali.

Thanks to the C.M. Lerici Foundation I had the opportunity to expand my experience of studies at the Department of Archaeology at Lund University.

My research focused on digital archaeology and during my visit I had the opportunity to enrich my studies and my knowledge about the Artificial Intelligence applied to the study of landscape archaeology.

In addition to my research it was possible to take part in many projects carried out by Darklab such as, for example, the digital collections and the activities of excavation at Västra Vång.

Not only during this experience I found an environment of strong stimulus that helped me in my growth, but I also have laboratories full of extraordinary people who welcomed me.

I thank very much to C.M. Lerici Foundation and Lund University for the fruitful experience I had.

European Premio Strega – Italian Literary Award

A few days ago, Il Premio Strega, the most prestigious Italian literature prize, announced the 12 books nominated to this year’s edition.

All the 74 proposed novels were written or completed during the pandemic, in forced isolation and solitude. In many of them, the female characters draw a new human geography: unconventional women, alien to gender stereotypes; courageous friends, divorced wives, single or reckless mothers; women who desire independence and freedom for themselves. We find biting, ironic, intelligent, and wisely melancholy voices, which testify a turning point in our society and literature.

In addition to these books, 5 international novels were also nominated for the European Strega Prize, including “Euforia” (“Eufori”, Wahlström & Widstrand), a novel about Sylvia Plath written by Swedish author Elin Cullhed, published by Mondadori and translated by Monica Corbetta, which recently won the August Prize Augustpriset.

Which of the Italian novels candidate to the Strega Prize will be translated into Swedish?

Which would you like to read?

PH: Wahlström & Widstrand

Tom Malmquist, “L’aria intorno a noi”

In 2010 Tom Malmquist reads in an old newspaper the news about the death of Mikael K., a 30year-old man found dead in a cave closed to Stockholm.

Is it a murder or a suicide?

The fact dates back to 1991, when Tom was just a boy. The case remained unsolved and then was closed. After almost twenty years, Tom searches for documents and information with the aim of writing a book, but he gradually discovers disturbing analogies that link him to the victim. Driven by a frenzied obsession he turns into an irreducible detective, and the investigation becomes his only goal as if finding meaning in Mikael’s life and death were the key to finding meaning in his life, and a new beginning.

“L’aria intorno a noi” (“All The Air That Surrounds Us”) is a narrative investigation – between autofiction and true crime – about a man without qualities, hidden in the folds of a news story. Moving with courage, Tom Malmquist manages to reveal the mystery of every life, which in others’ eyes can take shape and deliver itself to the dazzling power of memories.

Tom Malmquist (1978) is a Swedish writer and poet. “L’aria intorno a noi” has been published in several countries, and NN Editore will also publish his debut novel, “In Every Moment We Are Still Alive”, which won many international awards, reaching the top of the New York Times’ chart.

Tom Malmquist is the first Swedish author published by NN Editore – with a literature grant from @cmlericifoundation – and we hope he will be just the first of a long series.

Daniel Gahnertz, “Golden Oldies”

Golden Oldies is a collection of poems written by Daniel Gahnertz.

Daniel Gahnertz is a Swedish poet, journalist, freelance photographer and award-winning haijin in numerous literary competitions. He has already published three books: Golden Oldies (Fel Förlag, 2012), Non untitled (Qudulibri, 2014) and Empty title space (La Ruota Edizioni, 2018). His haiku are also featured in numerous international magazines.

Golden Oldies has now been translated from Swedish to Italian by Stefania Renzetti and published by La Ruota Edizioni with a Lerici Foundation’s literary grant.

Women in Literature

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, we celebrate all the women who drive change in the world.

We would like to do it through the example of five women writers, who tell the world from a female perspective to inspire the readers.

All these books have been translated and published thanks to a Lerici Foundation’s literature grant.

Have you read them?

Raffaele La Capria, “Dödligt sårad”/”Ferito a morte”

Naples, Summer 1954.

This is where “Ferito a morte” begins.

The novel tells the story of a group of friends who belong to the Neapolitan middle class. One of them, Massimo, is about to leave for Rome and together they are spending some time chatting, joking, and playing in exclusive places, such as the Nautical Club and the Middleton Bar. The last three chapters of the book are set six years later, in 1960. Massimo has returned home for a short vacation and meets his old friends in Capri and Positano, where some of them are now living by their wits.

Ferito a morte is already one of the classics of the Italian literature. Written by Raffaele La Capria in 1960, in the same year the book was awarded the Strega Prize.

Now the novel has been translated by Vibeke Emond and published by the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm under the title “Dödligt sårad” with a C.M. Lerici Foundation’s literature grant.

Are you ready to dive into the Italian Summer atmosphere?

Domenico Starnone, “Bekännelser” /“Confidenza”

“I didn’t tolerate anything that confronted me with not being perfect.”

Following the international success of Ties, Domenico Starnone gives another portrait of human relationships and human folly in “Bekännelser” (“Confidenza”, Einaudi editore). The novel has recently been published in Sweden by Bazar Förlag with the C.M. Lerici Foundation literary grant.

Bekännelser is an intense novel about the wanderings of love and the mechanisms of fear.

Pietro is a 33-year-old high school teacher involved in a passionate but tempestuous relationship with Teresa. One day, they entrust each other with their worst and most shameful secret they have never told another person, something they’re too ashamed to tell anyone. Shortly afterwards, the relationship ends, and Pietro soon starts a new relationship with another woman, but Teresa periodically appears together with a reminder of the confession they made, as a warning or a threat.

Is it possible to escape the past?

Do You Know the Lerici Foundation’s Books?

Besides the scholarships for Italian and Swedish students and researchers, the Foundation also offers a series of literature grants to Italian and Swedish publishing houses.

The aim is to support the cultural exchange in literature by promoting the translation and publication of Italian books about Sweden or Swedish cultural, and viceversa.

On the Foundation’s website (www.cmlerici.se) you can find all the books published with the Foundation’s support, but many of them have also been presented on the Foundation’s Instagram & Facebook profiles.

You just have to choose which book you would like to read!

#SwedishStories – Cristina Manzetti

Hello from Lund!

My name is Cristina and I am an archaeologist working as a post-doc at University of Cyprus, but I spent the last 4 months at the department of Archaeology at University of Lund, thanks to Lerici Foundation.

My research interest is digital archaeology and during this visiting period I had the opportunity to expand the study about virtual reconstructions and analyses of Roman theatres that I developed for my PhD.

Lund University has an amazing motion capture lab where we carried out eye-tracking tests to verify the reliability of the hypothetical reconstruction of one of the Roman theatres of Crete, according to subjective visibility within the virtual theatre.

I thank very warmly Lerici Foundation and Lund University for the fruitful experience I had in Sweden, both from a professional and a personal point of view.