Salvatore Quasimodo

Salvatore Quasimodo (; August 20, 1901 – June 14, 1968) was an Italian poet and translator. In 1959, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times". Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he was one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century. Biography Quasimodo was born in Modica, Sicily, to Gaetano Quasimodo and Clotilde Ragusa. He spent his childhood in Roccalumera. In 1908 his family moved to Messina, as his father had been sent there to help the local population struck by a devastating earthquake. The impressions of the effects of natural forces would have a great impact on the young Quasimodo. In 1919 he graduated from the local Technical College. In Messina he also made friends with Giorgio La Pira, future mayor of Florence. Salvatore Quasimodo was introduced to the Scottish Rite Freemasonry by his father, who was a member of the Masonic Lodge “Arnaldo da Brescia”. The Grand Orient of Italy has recognized Quasimodo as one of his most notable brothers. In 1917 Quasimodo founded the short-lived Nuovo giornale letterario ("New Literary Journal"), in which he published his first poems. In 1919 he moved to Rome to finish his engineering studies, but poor economic conditions forced him to find work as a technical draughtsman. In the meantime he collaborated with several reviews and studied Greek and Latin.