To the virologist Ilaria Capua, Reinhold Messner and Andrea Rigoni: the Masi prize n. 39

An internationally renowned Italian researcher and virologist like Ilaria Capua, a mountaineer with extraordinary achievements, a strenuous defender of the mountains like Reinhold Messner (who is also a wine producer, in South Tyrol, with the Unterortl-Castel Juval winery) and an entrepreneur pioneer of environmental sustainability like Andrea Rigoni of Rigoni di Asiago, a personality like Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and a reality that over the years has spread the culture of quality wine through its glasses, like Riedel Glass: here are the winners of the Masi Prize n. 39, one of the most long-lived and authoritative cultural awards given by the world of wine, promoted by the Masi Foundation since 1981. The experiences of the 2020 award winners are united by the macro theme of sustainability, in its environmental, social and economic declination.
“Forty years ago, at the founding of the Award, almost nobody talked about sustainability, environment, culture of the territory, attention to diversity and minorities. And yet, in the culture of the founders and in their choices of the prize-winners, all these themes already appear strongly present, with a deep conviction that they should not be separated or even opposed to modernity, industry, civil and economic progress. Today, therefore, as yesterday, the Masi Prize points out figures that point the way to harmonious progress: women and men who fight to get out of the contradictions that mark our present, avoiding degrowth or retreat into the past. This year’s edition particularly looks at the pandemic, but also beyond the pandemic, with the confidence that has always distinguished our Award and its interpreters”, explains the president of the Masi Foundation, Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti.
“In the year marked by the dramatic planetary emergency of the Covid-19, complicated by lockdown and forced distancing, our decision to award the Awards never failed. On the contrary, we have matured the ambition to represent a precise and strong signal of resilience in a context of general restart: from economy to school, from show business to publishing, from tourism to food and wine. These last sectors in particular live and express themselves in sociality and conviviality, and therefore are among the most affected and mortified”, added the president of Masi, Sandro Boscaini. The award ceremony will be on stage on Saturday, October 24th at 5 pm and will be broadcast live streaming from the Cantine Masi in Valpolicella.

Focus - Masi Prize n. 39, the motivations
Premio Masi Civiltà Veneta

Ilaria Capua
“Distinguished international scientist, at the forefront of virological research and the fight against anti-scientific obscurantism; her clear and calm interventions are essential to face the difficult months of the pandemic with more serenity”

Reinhold Messner
“One of the greatest mountaineers of the world, true citizen of the world, has never separated his extraordinary enterprises from a tireless commitment in defense of the social, cultural and landscape environment of the mountain, rejecting every ethnocentrism and sectarianism”

Andrea Rigoni
“Successful entrepreneur and pioneer among the industrialists in the choice of organic products, has directed his company towards a global path of sustainable development in the sign of attention to the healthiness of the product and the environment, maintaining a strong link with Asiago, its territory of origin”

Premio Masi Internazionale Civiltà del Vino
Riedel Glass
“The Riedel company is a perfect example of the ability to combine technological innovation, love for the product and respect for the environment in a recipe that has brought it to first place in the world for the production of glasses designed to enhance the characteristics of each individual wine with attention to the reuse of recycled crystal. It has thus contributed to the culture of wine in respect of ecology”

Premio Masi Internazionale Grosso d’Oro Veneziano
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
“His over thirty years of work as a diplomat involved in assisting millions of refugees around the world - whatever the reasons for war, economic or health reasons that force human beings to leave their homes - is worthy of recognition and signaling, even more so at a time when it is they, the weakest, who take the greatest risk in the health emergency that has hit the planet”