A literary journey through Pasolini's hometowns

Fifty years after the tragic death of Pier Paolo Pasolini, writer, poet, director, and one of the greatest intellectuals of the twentieth century, we retrace some of the most significant places in his human and literary history, starting with the Idroscalo in Ostia, where he was assassinated on November 2, 1975.

In Rome's seaside neighborhood, within the LIPU (Italian League for the Protection of Italian Literature) protected natural oasis, a literary park named after Pasolini has been created, commemorating the artist's tragic death with a monument created by sculptor Mario Rosati. Every year on October 22nd, Literary Parks Day, readings and walks commemorate the great writer and intellectual. In addition to the park in Ostia, Rome offers many literary itineraries, especially in the suburbs that inspired him. Pasolini arrived in the capital in 1950, after spending his childhood and early youth between Bologna, where he was born in 1922, and Friuli. His arrival in the Eternal City marked a radical change in his life: here he discovered the poorest and most degraded neighborhoods and the brutality of a certain model of society; He frequented writers and intellectuals - from Attilio Bertolucci to Alberto Moravia, from Elsa Morante to Dacia Maraini - and established relationships that were crucial to his emotional life in the slums of this 'stupendous and miserable city', where his 'ragazzi di vita' moved and where, among the humblest people, he chose his actors with hard features and faces marked by daily toil.

To discover Pasolini's places, Rome has created guided tours, accompanied by readings of passages and memoirs. The tour explores the symbolic places of his Roman experience as a writer and intellectual, from Campo de' Fiori to EUR, from the Appian Way to Villa Borghese, along the Tiber and in the streets of Pigneto, where he filmed the film "Accattone." Then there's Rebibbia, Ponte Mammolo, Pietralata, Testaccio, the Non-Catholic Cemetery with the tomb of Antonio Gramsci. And then there's Quadraro, where he filmed scenes from "Mamma Roma," the Appian Way Park, and the Ostia coastline. The guided tour also takes in places dear to him, such as the bars and restaurants he frequented with his lifelong friends. The tour continues where his memory has been honored with street art, sculptures, and installations, from Via Fanfulla da Lodi to the Teatro India and the Sistine Chapel in Tor Pignattara, with Nicola Verlato's "Hostia." He lived in three places: initially in the Ponte Mammolo area, and from 1954 in the Monteverde neighborhood (Via Fonteiana 86 and Via Carini 45), where he befriended the Bertolucci family, and from 1963 in the EUR district, at Via Eufrate 9. During these weeks of celebration, Rome is also dedicating the 'Ppp Visionario' app to him, with a program of events, promoted by Roma Capitale, to honor the memory, legacy, and prophetic vision of one of the great artists of the twentieth century. Running until December, the exhibition aims to explore his entire oeuvre—from poetry to cinema, from theater to civic and sporting commitment—following a journey through the places associated with Pasolini's vision.

Before arriving in Rome in 1950, the writer spent several years of his childhood and many summer holidays in Casarsa, his mother's hometown. Friuli is present in his memories, in his family ties, and in his language: his first poems, published in 1942 and dedicated to Casarsa, are in Friulian, as is his first play, "I Turchi in Friuli," published in 1976 but written in May 1944. He also linked these places to cinema: in the Grado lagoon, he set "Medea," the film starring Maria Callas, with whom he developed a deep friendship. In Casarsa della Delizia, you can visit his mother's house, now home to the Pier Paolo Pasolini Study Center, which also houses his early ink paintings; The small church of Santa Croce, with frescoes by Pomponio Amalteo, which Pasolini himself, with the help of the Casarsa youth, began to restore, and where a plaque commemorates the Turkish invasion of 1499, which inspired his play. Not far away, the small village of Versuta, with the church of Sant'Antonio Abate, bears witness to Pasolini's experience during the Second World War: it was here that the 'Academiuta di Lenga furlana' was born, a literary salon in which he participated to promote the Friulian language. The small hamlet of San Giovanni di Casarsa, on the other hand, is linked to the poet's political commitment, where he had the wall posters he himself inspired displayed.

Many places in Friuli inspired him: Sacile, where he lived as a child from 1929 to 1932; the medieval village of Valvasone, where he taught; San Vito al Tagliamento for his artistic training and civic commitment, which he immortalized in part of his novel "The Dream of a Thing." The Grado lagoon is another important place: introduced to him by his friend, the painter Giuseppe Zigaina, Pier Paolo Pasolini frequented it extensively, choosing as his retreat a large house on Mota Safon, an islet near Porto Buso. Due to his father's frequent moves, the family moved frequently, traveling from Bologna to Conegliano, from Cremona to Reggio.

Emilia-Romagna is among Pasolini's most beloved regions: here, especially in Bologna, he spent his high school and university years, crucial to his artistic and human development. And it was here that he set "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom," his last film. Pasolini traveled extensively, often accompanied by his friends Alberto Moravia and Elsa Morante; together they visited India and Morocco, Jordan and Israel; with his friend Maria Callas, he visited Cappadocia, Uganda, and Tanzania. But it was southern Italy that inspired him, as evidenced by some beautiful pages in "The Long Road of Sand," a reportage of a journey along the Italian coast.

Lazio, Puglia, Calabria, and above all, Basilicata: Pasolini chose locations, often still unknown, and brought them into his world, such as Matera, which in the film 'The Gospel According to Matthew' is transformed into Jerusalem: the Lucanian capital, with its dead-end streets, caves, ravines, and stone stairways, was the best setting he could find for his work.