The Apollonio family boasts a deep and consolidated connection with the world of culture and entertainment. A vocation that in 2005 materialized in the Apollonio Award, an event that opens the Salento summer in the Rectorate of the University of Salento, in Lecce, and which makes use, after the initial contribution of Serena Dandini, of the artistic direction of Neri Marcorè.
The Award originates from the desire of Marcello and Massimiliano to pay homage first of all to their parents, people dedicated to work and to the family, and then to the Apulians, by birth or for artistic merits, who give prestige to their land in the field of entertainment, literature, creativity in general.
Among the winners, Renzo Arbore, Antonio Caprarica, Giuliano Sangiorgi, Ennio Capasa, Ferzan Ozpetek (honorary citizen of Lecce for the film “Mine vaganti”), the Oscar winner Helen Mirren (honorary citizen of Tiggiano, municipality of Southern Salento where the actress lives most of the year with her husband Taylor Hackford) and the Italian-American actor John Turturro (honorary citizen of Giovinazzo, the village where his father comes from).
Among the guests of the event, Franco Battiato, Francesco De Gregori, Gianni Morandi, Niccolò Fabi, Virginia Raffaele, Marcello Masi, Luca Barbarossa.
