The 2018 edition included dozens of events over six days of conferences, book presentations, workshops, exhibitions, excursions and documentaries, with more than 80 guests from different countries of the world; the entrance was always free and there were a few live streaming events. Among the guests there was the RAI journalist Tiziana Ferrario, a living symbol of the battles against stereotypes and preconceptions about women. She has turned the spotlight on all the women in the world who speak up to ask for the same career opportunities and rights as men. A female anger that culminated in the Women’s March in Washington the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump at the White House – an event Tiziana Ferrario reported with impeccable professionalism as head of the correspondence department at RAI from the US.
Others were Alessandro Barbano, publisher of Il Mattino of Naples, Maria Cuffaro, journalist and correspondent for the RAI news program TG3, the Pulitzer prize winner journalist Alessia Cerantola, the RAI correspondent from Berlin Barbara Gruden, Maurizio Piccirilli, who took the picture of the founding of Aldo Moro’s corpse in the back of the red R4 left by the Red Brigades in Via Caetani in Rome, Filippo Boni, author of the book Gli eroi di Via Fani [“the heroes of Via Fani”] and Floriana Buflon, who won the Lucchetta Prize with her report about foreign minors abandoned and abused in the area of the Termini train station in Rome, published by Espresso.it and broadcast by La7 and RaiNews24.
The island also hosted Andrea Iacomini (UNICEF spokesman), Gian Carlo Murkovich (President of the Chambers of Commerce for Central Europe), Marco De Amicis (Save the Children), the De Telegraaf correspondent Maarten van Aalderen and the Associated Press correspondent Collen Barry, as well as the journalist of Il Sole 24 Ore Gerardo Pelosi and Giuseppe Gioia, (Veneto Association of Journalists). And there were more guests at the Hemingway festival promoted by the nonprofit cultural association Cinzia Vitale ONLUS (www.vitaleonlus.it) in partnership with the city of Caorle and with the patronage of the Veneto Region. The north-eastern daily newspaper Il Gazzettino was media partner. The Papa Award had a special guest: Oleg Mandic, the last child who left Auschwitz alive. He talked about his life in the concentration camp, a story that found a few similarities with that of the Syrian journalist Asmae Dachan, who has been collecting the voices of her war-fleeing fellow countrypepole for years, engaging herself in the front line in the defense of human rights. The city also hosted Angelo Cimarosti, co-founder of the citizen journalism website YouReporter.
The closing night of the 2018 edition saw the presentation of the book Strange Tribe by John Hemingway, grandson of Ernest, with an introduction by Roberto Vitale, President of the Papa Award, and translated into Italian by Maria Grazia Nicolosi. The book was discussed by the publisher Sante Avagliano (Marlin Editore) along with Collen Barry, journalist of the Associated Press (USA), commenting on John Hemingway’s videocall from Montreal. In addition, there were many historical voices, e.g. Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, Professor emeritus at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Sergio Tazzer, President of the Center for World War I historical documents and Barbara De Nardi, city councillor for the World War I centenary of the municipality of Vittorio Veneto. For the first time, the festival hosted the Vice Director of the Italian Associated Press Agency (ANSA) Stefano Polli, Father Enzo Fortunato, Director of the newsroom of the Sacro Convento of Assisi with his book Francesco il ribelle [“Francis the rebel”] and Martina Pastorelli, co-founder of Catholic Voices Italia.
