Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 4.30 p.m., at the prestigious Gaetano Filangieri Civic Museum, the award ceremony of the XI edition of the Amerigo National Literary Prize of the Four Freedoms, promoted by the Amerigo Association, an organization that brings together Italian students of the cultural and professional exchange programs promoted by the State Department of the United States of America.
The 2026 edition takes on a special significance as it is part of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, signed in 1776. The Amerigo Freedom 250 Special Literary Prize, promoted by the United States Consulate General in Naples and delivered by Consul General Terrence Flynn, will also be awarded.
The Amerigo National Literary Prize of the Four Freedoms was established to valorize authors and works that promote the universal values of fundamental freedoms enunciated by American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the famous speech on the State of the Union of 6 January 1941: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from need and freedom from fear. Principles that inspired the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and which still continue to represent a point of reference for civil coexistence and cooperation among peoples.
The Amerigo Association, born in 2008 on impulse of the then US Ambassador to Italy Ronald P. Spogli, collects the Italian alumni of the exchange programs promoted by the Government of the United States and works to strengthen the cultural, institutional and economic dialogue between Italy and the United States.
The choice of the Gaetano Filangieri Civic Museum as the venue for the event takes on a particular symbolic value this year. During the ceremony, documents and historical correspondences will be presented that testify to the intellectual dialogue between Benjamin Franklin and Gaetano Filangieri, figures that contributed to the spread of ideas of freedom, right and progress that marked the history of the West.
“With the Amerigo Prize of the Four Freedoms we want to reaffirm the value of culture as a tool for dialogue, mutual understanding and building peace. The Four Freedoms enunciated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt continue to represent a universal reference for democracies and for all those who believe in the dignity of the person and in the coexistence among peoples,” says Edoardo Imperiale, President of the Amerigo Association.
“This year’s edition takes on a particularly important significance because it coincides with the celebrations of the two hundred and fifty anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. We are particularly pleased that the ceremony takes place at the Gaetano Filangieri Civic Museum, a symbol of Neapolitan culture and the historical intellectual relationship between Gaetano Filangieri and Benjamin Franklin, one of the most significant testimonies of the link between Italy and the United States. I thank the Consul General of the United States in Naples, Terrence Flynn, for the sensitivity shown towards this initiative and for wishing to celebrate this important event through the award of the Amerigo Freedom 250 Special Prize. ”
The ceremony will be held on Wednesday 17 June 2026 at 16.30 at the Civic Museum Gaetano Filangieri, in Via Duomo 288, Naples.
L’articolo At the Museo Civico Filangieri in Naples the eleventh edition of the National Literary Prize Amerigo delle Quattro Libertà proviene da IlNewyorkese.
