The Gubbio Prize was established in 1990 and is awarded every third year. It is structured in three sections: Italian, European and University. Mario Botta, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Renzo Piano, Philippe Prost, Alvaro Siza, West 8, Whiterford Watson Mann, as well as the municipalities of Bologna, Florence, Grenoble, Naples, Pisa, Venice, and many others have been awarded over the past three decades. Designers, critics, historians, and researchers from all over Europe have participated in the various editions of the Gubbio Prize as external advisors or jury members: Nina Bassoli, Nadia Casabella, Sasa Dobricic, Baptiste Manet, Sara Marini, Luca Molinari, Manuel Orazi, and Giulia Ricci, among others.

Each edition of the Gubbio Prize takes place over the course of a year. A selection of Italian and European external advisors and jury members, who are experts in the themes of the prize, support ANCSA in identifying the participants and defining the winners. The public award ceremony, held in Gubbio in December, also includes an exhibition of the winning projects, set up in the cloister of the Biblioteca Sperelliana. The results of the prize are collected in a catalog published in the ANCSA Documenti series.

Since 2018 Nicola Russi has been the director of the Gubbio Prize, previously chaired by Franco Mancuso (Italian Section) and Paola Falini (European Section). Alessandro Benetti is the prize coordinator. The prize is organized with the support of the City of Gubbio.

Throughout its history, the Gubbio Prize has broadened its thematic and geographical horizons, accompanying the evolutions and trajectories of the debate on historic cities and territories. The European Section was established in 1993, while the parallel activities of the Gubbio Latin American and Caribbean Prize started in 2009. They are organized in collaboration with ANCSA’s South American partners, in keeping with the association’s scope and objectives. Since 2024, the Gubbio Prize also features the presentation of a seminal experience from a non-European nation.

The Gubbio Prize is one of the most important initiatives promoted by ANCSA. The association was founded precisely in Gubbio in 1961, with the aim of promoting cultural and practical initiatives for the preservation and regeneration of urban heritage, in support of the action of public administrations. Giulio Carlo Argan, Giovanni Astengo, Vittoria Calzolari, Antonio Cederna, Bruno Gabrielli, Roberto Gambino, Cesare Macchi Cassia, Giuseppe Samonà and Antonino Terranova were among the association’s most distinguished members.

Since its creation, ANCSA has constituted itself as a space for dialogue between those who design historic cities and territories – architects, urbanists, planners, landscape architects – those who govern them – municipal, regional and supra-local administrations – and those who reflect and research on these issues – theorists, historians and critics. Since 2021 Filippo Stirati, in its capacities of the mayor of Gubbio, has been president of the association, Stefano Storchi is vice president, and Marika Fior is the general secretary. The members of ANCSA’s Board of Directors are: Alessandro Benetti, Letizia Carrera, Bruna di Palma, Nicola Russi, Fabrizio Toppetti, Mauro Volpiano, the municipalities of Asolo, Bergamo, Bologna, Livorno, Modena, Parma, the Tuscany region, and the Parco dei colli di Bergamo. More information on ANCSA’s history and current events can be found at www.ancsa.it.