Ever since its first edition, the Cilento Poetry Prize, a flagship of the Empathetic School, also known as the Empathetic School, a contemporary literary-artistic-philosophical and cultural movement, has distinguished itself for the high prestige of the guests involved, so much so that it has attracted the attention of television stations such as ‘RaiTre Regionale’ and national newspapers such as ‘Corriere della Sera’ and ‘La Repubblica’. Starting from the eighth edition, in 2023, the Cilento Poetry Prize aims, thanks to the funding assigned by the Ministry of Culture, to make the event grow in order to accredit it as one of the most important national and international reviews; an extraordinary opportunity to launch Cilento and Italian culture in a global dimension thanks to the prestige that poetry and literature and the arts tout court hold and are capable of conveying.  

The award was conceived and is curated by poet, writer and literary critic Menotti Lerro.

It is awarded annually in the municipality of Salento Cilento, in the province of Salerno, also known as the ‘Land of Poetry’ (which together with Omignano - ‘Land of Aphorisms’ and Vallo della Lucania - ‘Seat of the Contemporary Arts Centre’ gives life to the innovative Cultural Triangle of Ancient Cilento in whose bosom the literary-artistic and philosophical movement ‘La Scuola Empatica’ was born in 2020).

The literary prize is awarded to a poet who has distinguished himself or herself in his or her career, or for having published, in the year preceding the year of the award, a collection of verse considered fundamental to the history of national literature.

One of its peculiarities consists in the unpublished texts donated and dedicated by the winners to the Cilento territory, which are transcribed on tiles of fine Vietri ceramics and then affixed on the town walls by the authors themselves on the symbolic night of San Lorenzo, 10 August.

Starting with the second edition, a second section of the Prize is reserved for authors who deal with literary criticism.

"Starting from the eighth edition, in 2023, the Cilento Poetry Prize aims, thanks to the funding assigned by the Ministry of Culture, to grow the event in order to accredit it as one of the most important reviews on a national and international level; an extraordinary opportunity to launch Cilento and Italian culture in a global dimension thanks to the prestige that poetry and literature and the arts tout court hold and are capable of conveying."