Claudio Covato he won Musicultura 2026. The 33-year-old Sicilian singer-songwriter, originally from Rosolini (Syracuse), won the title of absolute winner of the XXXVII edition of the Popular and Author Song Festival with the song Chiddu ca but staysung in Sicilian dialect, on the stage of the Sferisterio in Macerata.
“I'm confused and very happy, I know it was a difficult choice, the guys here with me are all crazy, thank you“, he said Hatched after the proclamation, decided by the vote of the 4,800 spectators of the two final evenings. The winner will receive the Banca Macerata Prize worth 20 thousand euros, which the artist has announced he intends to invest in the creation of his first album.
Claudio Covato, a victory that collects prizes
Not only did the main prize go to the Sicilian singer-songwriter. Hatched he also conquered the Critics Plaque “Piero Cesanelli”worth 3 thousand euros, assigned by the journalists of the Musicultura press room, together with a parchment engraved by the master scribe Malleus, and had already received the Frasassi Caves Award of 2 thousand euros, with an artistic residency in the Marche naturalistic site.
A victory that Hatched he wanted to dedicate it to his wife and three-year-old son. “With this prize I will record the album I'm preparing and maybe even pay for a new roof“, he commented ironically. Chiddu ca but stay it is a piece with an almost immaterial dimension, which moves on the terrain of sensations and the search for a hidden meaning of things, entrusted to images of nature which become the expression of an intimate and universal reflection.
Musicultura 2026: the other winners and the award to DDUMA
The Sicilian singer-songwriter prevailed over the other seven finalist artists of the Festival: Rosita Brucoli of Milan with Agent!, DDUMA of Lecce with War females, MIDDLE BLACK of Bologna with Feathers, Urban Storyteller of Turin with My roommate wants to kill me, Isabella Privitera of Bologna with Hey, Giovanni Toscano of Pisa with Emma And Giulia Trovò of Treviso with If I never come back.
TO DDUMA of Lecce went the “The house by the sea” of 2,000 euros, decreed by a jury of inmates of the Barcaglione prison in Ancona, engaged in a musical workshop of the Festival. Thanks to a special permit, the inmates Petrit Kripa And David Ciancaleonirepresenting the jury, presented the award on the stage of the Sferisterio. A cultural integration initiative for the re-education and reintegration of prisoners, promoted by the Guarantor of Human Rights of the Marche Region Giancarlo Giulianelli and reported as best practice by the Ministry of Justice.
Le Vibrazioni, Alan Sorrenti and Alberto Fortis: the guests of the Sferisterio
The final of Musicultura 2026conducted by Carolina From Dominic And Fabrizio Biggiosaw the performance of The Vibrations. The band opened with their new single Ambiguity (so high on confetti)followed up with the debut single Dedicated to you of 2003 and closed with Come to me. “You have to believe in your music, without letting yourself be influenced by external judgments,” he told the young winners Francesco Sarcinafrontman of the band.
On stage too Alberto Fortiswhich he proposed on the piano and with the harmonica Milan and Vincenzothe new single remember me written with Moni Ovadia and the beloved September. Returning to the Sferisterio two years after their victory, i Santamarea they re-proposed the song of the same name and the new single Tornado. There is also space for the self-deprecating story of the actor and presenter Riccardo Rossi about the music of his adolescence.
Grand finale entrusted to Alan Sorrentifrom You are the only woman for me of 1979 to the overwhelming Children of the starswhich had those present singing in unison. “It is a song written a long time ago, but which today more than ever, in a world marked by wars and divisions, sends an important message of peace and union,” recalled the artist.
The words of the artistic director Ezio Nannipieri
“I think this was one of the most kaleidoscopic editions of Musicultureboth for the stylistic and expressive variety of the winners and for the versatility of the musical languages brought on stage by the guests”, commented the artistic director Ezio Nannipieri. “In the end, the overall winner was a boy, Claudio Covato, who was able to give new flavor to the tradition of oral music thanks to a very high profile interpretative and guitar approach and the deepest authenticity of the Sicilian language.“.
Main Media Partner of Musiculture it's there Rai. The final evenings can be relived on July 13th, in the late evening on Rai 1in the program signed by Matthew Catalan with the direction of Duccio They force itspread throughout the world by Rai Italy.
