Letteratura ed arte degli iblei
Going up from Corso Umberto I towards Corso Garibaldi, take a very short stretch of via Alessandro Grana, continue along via Recommended and reach via Posterla where, at no. 781, on August 20, 1901, the Nobel Prize winner (1959) Salvatore Quasimodo was born.
The house is located in a panoramic point of Modica, under the Clock Tower. The great poet lived here the first 14 months of his life. Today this house has opened its doors to the many tourists who wish to visit it. In the room where the poet was born, we find a wrought iron bed, a kneeler, a bedside and other early 20th century furniture and furnishings, an old Olivetti typewriter, a desk, a record collection and a bookcase with many books his son Alessandro wanted to donate to the Sicilian Region in 1996, together with other objects.
Another room is that of Poetry, a museum that offers a journey through the poetry of Quasimodo with the reading of some of his most beautiful lyrics through his voice: an old tape lets visitors hear the voice of the poet reciting some of his poems and his speech entitled “The Politician and the Poet”, read in Stockholm on the occasion of the Nobel award.
Sicily belongs to the myth. The myth forged its culture and civilization even before literature had its own history. The younger boys still study the events of Ulysses and the Cyclops at school today, set not too far from the Hyblean triangle, masterfully translated by Homer from the sublime pen of Salvatore Quasimodo.
Along the seafront promenade of Punta Secca made famous by the pen of another great contemporary, Andrea Camilleri, there is a small but significant monument dedicated to Salvatore Quasimodo, a simple stone book, And it’s immediately evening, where you can sit and observe the wonderful sunsets, icon of our coast.
Good walk!
