On the 70th anniversary of the Gold Medal awarded to the capital of the Langhe, as a symbolic city of the Resistance, the truffle prize 2019 will go to the senator for life Liliana Segre.
“In an anniversary that reminds us of our history, I am happy that the mayor of Alba Carlo Bo and the president of the Fiera Liliana Allena shared my idea that to receive the award this year was Liliana Segre – explains the president of Regione Piemonte Alberto Cirio -. It is not the first time that the white Truffle of Alba with its great media power is the mouthpiece of important and difficult issues. The truffle is part of the DNA of our territory, as is the Resistance for which so many people have given their lives in our hills. At 70 years from the Gold Medal that this land has received, we think there is no more right person for accepting a gesture that we hope will contribute to memory. Because in order for the past to be teaching it is fundamental not to forget “.
The prize, a recognition that has changed the history of Alba, is a Tuber magnatum Pico from the territory of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato will be handed over to Senator Segre on December 14th, at 12 noon, in the historic headquarters of the Teatro Sociale Giorgio Busca in Alba.
In the city that was decorated on November 13th, 1949 by the President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi with the gold medal for Military Valour for the key role in the Resistance, the example of Senator Segre is an opportunity to keep alive the memory of the tragedy of past, but above all to combat prejudices and indifference for the tragedies of the present, always with the desire to establish an open dialogue with the other components of society, thereby drawing on the principles of freedom, democracy and respect for people.
The “Truffle of the Year” is awarded every year by the International Alba White Truffle Fair and the City of Alba to great protagonists of the present, the world of entertainment, customs and international politics. The tradition of the award dates back to 1929, when the “King of the Truffle” and founder of the fair, Giacomo Morra, had the intuition to link the “jewel of the earth” to men and women of world fame. Over the years, the great protagonists of the 20th century, such as Queen Elizabeth, US Presidents Harry Truman, Ike Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, General Charles De Gaulle, the Presidents of the Republic and the Council, receive the truffle of the year. Italians Giuseppe Saragat, Aldo Moro, Sandro Pertini and Giorgio Napolitano, the actresses Marilyn Monroe, Sofia Loren, Monica Vitti, thus contributing to the worldwide fame of the Albanian white truffle and the historic fair. In recent years the award has been received by film personalities such as directors Francis Ford Coppola and Werner Herzog, actresses Penelope Cruz and Claudia Cardinale, protagonists of Italian society such as Sergio Marchionne, Fabio Fazio, Marcello Lippi and finally in the last two editions at Francesco, Papa Bergoglio and the composer Ludovico Einaudi.
