With the prize of the same name, which has been celebrating Italy’s finest wordsmiths since 1926, the Trattoria Bagutta in Milan is one of the first three restaurants in the world to become home to a literary award of national renown (its illustrious historic siblings are the Prix Goncourt in Paris, first launched in 1896, the jury of which has been meeting at the Drouant restaurant since 1914, and the Prix Interallié, set up in 1930 and held at the Lasserre restaurant). Ristorante 12 Apostoli in Verona is the venue for the prize of the same name, first awarded in 1968, for a book by a journalist-writer; Hotel Principe di Piemonte in Viareggio gave birth to the famous “Premio Viareggio”.
As soon as it opened in 1924, this restaurant became popular as the "Trattoria" where the literary world met. In 1927, the well-known Italian writer Orio Vergani founded the Bagutta Prize, awarded annually to the best-selling book of the year. The walls are covered with the jackets of these best-sellers, together with the special menus created each year to celebrate the award dinner.
The name came in the eighteenth century from the daily visits of twelve traders from nearby Piazza delle Erbe. The ancient rooms with their frescoed ceilings, and Roman and medieval vestiges in the cellars retain all their fascination. A symbol of tradition and culture, and the venue for a prestigious literary-journalistic award set up by Orio Vergani, its guests have included D'Annunzio, Ezra Pound, Hemingway, Maria Callas, the Royal Family of Sweden, Guareschi, Fellini, Jean Gabin, and Barbra Streisand. It has been run by the same family ever since the early twentieth century, four generations.
For many decades, writers, critics and jounalists have partecipated to the Premio Viareggio, created by Leonida Rèpaci, a literary award held every year at the Hotel Principe di Piemonte. Giacomo Puccini loved staying in this elegant Liberty-style hotel and Lorenzo Viani painted some of his masterpieces on the terrace here.
