Vanni Santoni's Poetry Debut 'Altre stanze' Nominated for Strega Poesia

Vanni Santoni, a prominent Italian novelist born in Montevarchi in 1978 and a 2017 Strega Prize candidate for 'La stanza profonda', has published his first poetry collection 'Altre stanze' with Le Lettere in March 2023. The neo-avant-garde and experimental work is a finalist for the Strega Poesia prize and the Paolo Prestigiacomo award. The collection is part of a larger project of 999 'stanze' (rooms), with the current volume containing the first 198. In an interview, Santoni distinguishes between dreams and visions, citing Rabindranath Tagore for dreams and Mircea Cărtărescu for visions. He emphasizes the intertextuality of the work, which includes mash-ups of quotes from other poets, and states he does not consider readers while writing. He agrees with Gilda Policastro's view that poetry's small market share frees it from commercial constraints. His favorite stanzas include 148, 189, and 187.