The Diplomat
The Instituto Cervantes has awarded the Ñ 2022 Prize to the Hispanist Gabriele Morelli (Campofilone, Italy, 1937), philologist and professor at the University of Bergamo and specialist in the Generation of ’27 and the avant-garde, in recognition of “his work in the dissemination and international promotion of the Spanish language”.
According to the institution, King Philip VI will present the award to the Italian professor and editor at the next annual meeting of the institution’s Board of Trustees, to be held this October. The statuette, a bronze sculpture with the Instituto Cervantes logo, is inspired by the letter eñe, characteristic of the Spanish language.
The choice of Morelli – from among the three candidates proposed by the director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero – was approved at the meeting of the Cervantes Board of Directors held on September 12 and constitutes the second award granted by the institution, following the creation of the prize last year on the occasion of the Cervantes’ thirtieth anniversary. This honorary distinction recognizes the careers of individuals – natural or legal, public or private – whose mother tongue is not Spanish and who stand out for their work in the dissemination and international promotion of the Spanish language.
Dean Professor of Italian Hispanism
Professor at the University of Bergamo, philologist, researcher, author and editor, Gabriele Morelli began his studies of language and literature in the 1960s, a time when there were few faculties of Spanish language and philology in Italy. He obtained his doctorate degree at the Bocconi University of Milan in 1966 with a thesis on Miguel Hernandez and completed his studies in Salamanca.
A member of the Association of Italian Hispanists (AISPI), of which he was president, Morelli is considered in the academic world as one of the leading specialists in Spanish and Latin American literature, particularly that of the avant-garde years and the Generation of ’27. Among the literary awards he has received are the Cross of Isabella the Catholic, the Cervantes Prize for Literary Translation in Italy for his version of the novel Puerto de sombra by Juan Chabás, and the León Felipe Award from the Ateneo de Madrid.
