The ceremony, now in its second edition, was held in Rome’s Sala Verde at Palazzo Chigi. Organised by the De Sanctis Foundation, the event is promoted in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The prize seeks to acknowledge individuals, organisations, enterprises, and projects that have shown tangible and multidisciplinary engagement, from environmental protection to social innovation, all the way to cultural excellence.

Among this year’s recipients, Michelangelo Pistoletto stood out for his ability to intertwine art and social consciousness. According to the official motivation, the artist embodies “a creative language of sustainability,” demonstrating how art can become a tool for reflection, transformation, and change.

In his acceptance speech, Pistoletto stated: “There is an antidote: art. And it is through art that we can rewrite humanity’s script.” The phrase encapsulates his vision: art not as decoration, but as a lever through which humanity can reinvent its relationship with the planet, an invitation to collective responsibility and deeper awareness.

During the ceremony, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, stressed the strategic value of sustainability: “The De Sanctis Prize represents one of the most significant moments in public debate; sustainability is the great strategic question of our time. It is vision, responsibility, commitment. It is a living mosaic of industriousness and creation. Sustainability is also social justice. There is no sustainability without culture, it gives us a new way of looking at our country.” With these words, the Minister reinforced the idea that addressing today’s environmental and social crises requires a profound cultural paradigm shift, where art, ethics, and politics speak to one another.

A particularly significant contribution came from Gianni Letta, President of the Prize, who underscored the spiritual and humanistic dimensions of Pistoletto’s work, linking them to the major retrospective UR-RA – Unity of Religions – Responsibility of Art. Letta remarked: “I thank Pistoletto, here with us tonight, fresh from the opening of a wonderful anthological exhibition of his works at the Villa Reale in Monza. In UR-RA, curated by Francesco Monico, former General Director of the Unidee Academy, one can see not only his artistic output but its profound spiritual meaning: his connection with Cardinal Ravasi, with the ‘great book of creation,’ with the Apologo, places art and religion in relation as great forces of the spirit—the ones that, as Francesco De Sanctis reminded us, move the world. Presenting the exhibition, Monico writes that our goal was to bring an ancient reflection into the present: just as art originally gave form to the spiritual, today it can still serve as a bridge between differences, a space for encounter and dialogue—art as a root of humanity, as responsibility, as a promise of shared and dialogic thought. Only under these conditions can there be a future.”

Letta’s words introduced one of the central themes of the evening: sustainability as a cultural and spiritual force -before being an environmental one - capable of taking root in history and in communities.

Beyond Pistoletto, the second edition of the Prize highlighted six additional paths that show how sustainability crosses diverse sectors: environment, industry, sport, circular economy, environmental remediation, and responsible entrepreneurship. Among the awardees were a task force dedicated to reclaiming illegal waste sites, a start-up focused on circular waste management, a textile company committed to sustainable fashion, a sports stadium designed according to green criteria, and a tribute to a late pioneer of environmentalism. The ceremony thus became a collective narrative, not a celebration of the exceptional, but an invitation to recognise sustainability as a transversal, everyday practice.

The 2025 De Sanctis Prize for Sustainability therefore offers a significant opportunity to reflect on the role of art today, not merely as aesthetics, but as a platform for change. Once again, the maestro demonstrated how an artist can act as both witness and catalyst for a new vision of the world, where creativity, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship are not separate domains but facets of a single commitment.