Frassica wins Val Comino Prize for literary work

Princeton's Pietro Frassica has been awarded the Val Comino Prize for his 2004 book, "Variants and Invariants in Evoked Themes," which analyzes the works of several 20th-century Italian authors.

The prize, which he received at an Oct. 1 ceremony in Alvito, Italy, also recognizes Frassica for his distinguished career of scholarship in Italian literary studies. The prize is organized by the town of Alvito, which is near Rome, under the auspices of the Italian government.

Frassica has been a professor of Italian at Princeton since 1976. His work has covered the early Renaissance, the 18th century, and contemporary literature and theater. He has written more than 60 scholarly and popular articles, and is the author of five books. In 1998 Frassica was the recipient of the Italian-American Hall of Fame award, and in 2001 received an "I migliori" prize from the Pirandello Society of Boston.