Actress Serra Yılmaz awarded Italy’s Minerva Prize

Turkish actress Serra Yılmaz, who carried out numerous projects in the field of theater and cinema in Italy for 19 years, has been awarded the prestigious Minerva-Anna Maria Mammoliti Award, which is given to women who have achieved success in different fields in Italy.

The Minerva Prize, renamed in 2009 after its founder Anna Maria Mammoliti, an Italian journalist and social activist, is the first Italian award dedicated predominantly to women who operate in "knowledge-related" fields.

The award is divided into different categories and consists of a precious brooch depicting the goddess Minerva designed by Maestro Renato Guttuso in 1983 on its first edition.

Yılmaz has become the first person who received the award in the field of arts. "I am very happy that such an important award was given to me in Italy. I am very proud to be seen as one of the successful women who make a difference in their own fields. As women, the negativities experiences in our fields all over the world force us, but they never intimidate us. We have to continue the struggle. We are very strong together and we will show our justness in this way."

Yılmaz, who currently performs her play "Don Quixote" in Italy, recently completed her tour of Italy with her sold-out play.

Fatma Şahin, the mayor of the southeastern province of Gaziantep, was awarded the same prize in 2017 for her and her municipality's efforts for refugees in Türkiye, becoming the first Turkish woman to win the award.