ORTONA, Italy — Rocco Siffredi will be honored by his hometown later this month when he receives the Premio 28 di Dicembre award, bestowed upon notable local figures by the Ortona municipality in the province of Chieti in Abruzzo.
Such end-of-the-year municipal awards are customary in Italy, and are equivalent to the orders and medals, such as knighthoods and the OBE, awarded in the U.K.
Since the Premio 28 di Dicembre was established in 1958, some 27 notable figures from Ortona have been honored for having “illuminated Abruzzo’s tiny town with glory,” MOW, an Italian news and lifestyle website that provides most of the local coverage of the adult industry, reported yesterday.
This year, mayor Leo Castiglione announced that the prize would go to one of Ortona’s “most famous fellow citizens ever”: Rocco Siffredi, born there as Rocco Tano seven years after the awards were introduced.
“This award,” the Ortona city hall announced through a statement, “was created to project our city on an international level, and Rocco Tano certainly represents a character well known by an audience that goes well beyond our national borders.”
According to MOW, the award ceremony will be held at the Tosti Theater, and will feature a short video introduction followed by a “thank you” speech by the awardee.
“I’ll be there, with the whole family,” a proud Siffredi told MOW.
Ortona will be featured prominently in "Supersex," an upcoming seven-episode Netflix series based on Siffredi's life and career.
Main Image: A Rocco Siffredi mural in his native Ortona, Italy (Source: Twitter)
