(ANSA) - Paris, April 19 - Lampedusa Mayor Giusy Nicolini on Wednesday got UNESCO's Houphouet-Boigny peace prize along with French NGO SOS Méditerranée for saving countless migrants and refugees and receiving them on the Italian island. "Since she was elected mayor in 2012," the citation said, "Nicolini has distinguished herself for her great humanity and constant commitment in the management of the refugee crisis and their integration after the arrival of thousands of refugees on the coasts of Lampedusa and elsewhere in Italy". Lampedusa is a stepping-stone island, nearer Africa than Sicily, where most of the migrants who make the desperate passage from Libya land.

