Starting in 2011, the Board of Trustees of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA has established The Renaissance Man or Woman of the Year Award to identify individuals who, over the course of their lives, have represented the Renaissance values that connect the Greek and Roman classical periods, the Enlightenment, and our own time.
The Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA will identify people who have had a life-long impact on many different fields. Whether it be by opening up new frontiers, displaying extraordinary entrepreneurship, supporting philanthropy, humanistic disciplines and the arts, or by supporting social causes and global understanding in the international economy or society, these individuals have been directly involved in serving their, or the international community for the common good.
This award represents an anchor to the values of openness, mutual understanding and progress. These are the central values found in the Florentine Renaissance, the link to the greatness of Rome and Athens, and the heritage of our contemporary humanist society.
The Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA feels that those same values and virtues are embodied today in the actions of contemporary men and women all across the world. Their Renaissance state of mind and spirit will affirm the power of intellectual progress developed over centuries by our human society.
