FAI Spring Days at the Salvatore Quasimodo Literary Park

FAI Spring Days in Roccalumera

The FAI Spring Days are the major national event through which the FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano (National Trust of Italy) opens hundreds of art, history, and nature sites—often little-known or usually inaccessible—to the public during the first weekend of spring. In Roccalumera, on the Ionian Riviera in the province of Messina, the star attraction is the Salvatore Quasimodo Literary Park, one of the sites opened by the FAI delegation for the occasion.

The Literary Park and the Nobel Prize-winning poet

The Park was founded in 2000 by brothers Carlo and Sergio Mastroeni together with Alessandro Quasimodo, the poet's son, and is dedicated to the memory of Salvatore Quasimodo, the 1959 Nobel Prize winner for Literature and a symbolic figure of 20th-century Sicilian culture. Set within the spaces of the old railway station, the Park brings together the Quasimodo Museum, featuring photos, documents, letters, and personal items; the distinctive Museum Train, housed in vintage carriages used as exhibition spaces; the Saracen Tower with its permanent exhibition of memorabilia; and the garden-museum overlooking the Ionian Sea.

What to see during the FAI Days

During the FAI openings, visitors can admire the most precious memorabilia linked to the poet: from Quasimodo's personal diary to the honorary degree conferred by the University of Messina after his Nobel win, as well as the original furnishings from his Milanese study, letters, telegrams, and unpublished publications. In recent years, the exhibition has been enriched by new donations from Alessandro Quasimodo, allowing the public to see materials and documents that had previously remained private. Tours are led by Apprendisti Ciceroni, local students trained by FAI who share the life and work of the poet with visitors.

An event to rediscover our heritage

The FAI Spring Days in Roccalumera are part of a broader itinerary that involves various locations in the province of Messina and throughout Sicily every year. The voluntary contribution model invites citizens and tourists to support the protection of Italy's cultural heritage and to rediscover treasures that are often nearby but rarely visited. For the Quasimodo Park, it is also an opportunity to reaffirm the deep bond between Roccalumera, its Ionian land, and one of the greatest Italian poets of the 20th century.