Matteo Nucci has won the Literature Prize for his novel “Plato: A Love Story” (Feltrinelli). According to the jury, “it is certainly not uncommon to read novels dedicated to eminent figures in the fields of politics, artistic creation, and philosophical thought. The risk is often that of employing literary techniques for the sole purpose of sugarcoating content that would belong to the essay genre. The case of Matteo Nucci is entirely different; he is a profound connoisseur of Greek thought and of the potential for knowledge inherent in literary writing. From the very first lines, his Plato is compelling through the use of a narrative voice that is extraordinarily concrete and closely attuned to the facts, to the protagonist’s life, and to that of a city-as-character like Athens. His book is not a work of mere popularization of Greek civilization, but a successful literary venture, marked by an idea of knowledge permeated with passion, friendship, and a sense of time. The Plato who emerges here escapes the confines of textbooks and scholarly monographs to become a character in the most universal and profound sense of the word.”