Special Campiello/ The President

Supporting the Campiello means investing in the soul of the country

Raffaele Boscaini, the new president of the prize, wants to demonstrate, with facts, that culture is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development

12 September 2025

Raffaele Boscaini, presidente di Confindustria Veneto e nuovo presidente del premio Campiello (Imagoeconomica)

3' min read

He belongs to a family that has been producing Venetian wines for seven generations Raffaele Boscaini, president of Confindustria Veneto and new president of the Campiello Prize

This is your first edition of the Campiello as president, what initiatives would you like to pursue?

I am approaching my first edition of the prize as President of the Campiello Foundation with emotion and a great sense of responsibility. The Campiello Prize is an institution of enormous prestige that has spanned more than sixty years of Italian history. It is a cultural heritage of our country that does not need revolutions, but to be accompanied into the future.

My top priority is to further strengthen that bridge, that vital dialogue between the business world and the world of culture, which has been the true DNA of the Prize since its origins. We will continue with the project of making the Campiello an active cultural engine twelve months a year, through a path made up of initiatives and meetings spread throughout the territories that bring authors and their stories out of traditional contexts, to create moments of confrontation and growth.

Moreover, we will, as always, pay great attention to the new generations, strengthening initiatives such as the Campiello Giovani and Campiello Junior, because investing in young writers and readers means investing in the future of our country.

What would you like to change instead?

Rather than real change, I prefer to think in terms of natural evolution. An institution like ours, in order to remain relevant and vital, must be able to renew itself continuously, adapting to the times without losing its identity.

We will continue to work on the reputation of the prize, also exploiting the potential of digital to reach segments of the public that may not yet know us, to intrigue those who perhaps consider literature something distant from their daily lives.

Another aspect that is particularly close to my heart is that of sustainability, understood not only in the environmental but also in the social sense. It is a language that we entrepreneurs know well and that we must necessarily apply to our cultural initiatives as well. The Foundation has already embarked on an important path with the publication of its sustainability report, and my intention is to make this a starting point so that the Campiello becomes a model of excellence not only for the literary quality it promotes, but also for its ability to generate value for the community, to be a responsible project. We want to demonstrate, with facts, that culture is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development.

What kind of impact do you think a prize like the Campiello can have on the country? What are your reasons for funding it?

The impact of the Campiello is something that goes far beyond a single award evening. Over the decades it has shone a spotlight on extraordinary talents who have become part of our literary canon. But its real magic is its ability to ignite curiosity, to create new readers, to stimulate debate and critical thinking. And that is invaluable to any society.

And here I come to why we Veneto entrepreneurs believe in it so much. For us, it is not just patronage, but a strategic investment in the most precious capital we have: human and cultural capital. We firmly believe that there can be no solid and lasting economic growth without parallel cultural growth. Supporting the Campiello means investing in the soul of the country, in that weave of creativity, ingenuity and beauty that has always defined Italy in the world.