Niscemi, writers in the field to save the library from the abyss

The image that more than any other crystallizes the Niscemi disaster is that car suspended in the air in a garage ‘dissected’ by the landslide of the ridge on which the country stands. But from today that image must be replaced with another, even more evocative: the “Angelo Marsiano” library which houses 4,000 books and documents, maps and notes that reconstruct the history of Niscemi.

The building is located in the heart of the Sante Croci district, on the edge of the landslide. To save this heritage which is not only historical, but also of identity, Sicilian writers have mobilized, called to action by Stefania Auciauthor of the saga of the Lions of Sicily.

Stefania Auci: “We risk losing two memories”

“The risk” says Auci, “is of losing two types of memory: that of individuals, which passes through the painful devastation of the gutted houses and the shreds of common life exposed to everyone’s eyes, and the collective memory kept, precisely, within that library, the fruit and will of an intellectual from Niscemi who had at heart the preservation of the history of his city”.

Nadia Terranova and the civil value of the library

His words are echoed by those of Nadia Terranovafinalist in the Strega with ‘What I know about you’ and narrator with ‘Trema la notte’ of another local tragedy: the Messina earthquake of 1908. “Rightly, the inhabitants of Niscemi say loudly that they don’t want to abandon the city, that they don’t want a ‘new Town’ to be built and they’re right” she says, “And so if the heart of a city is its library, which is its historical memory and pulsating centre, that place must live and be made safe immediately, so that it returns as soon as possible to being a place of comfort and discussion”. Terranova, who directs the Logos literary festival, has offered together with the other souls of the initiative – Cristian Guzzardi, Giovanni Lo Giudice and Marcello Barrale – the space of the next edition in September this year to discuss with the library curators how to preserve the memory of the community.

Barbara Bellomo: “Protect the identity of the community”

Barbara Bellomoauthor of the ‘Library of missing physicists’, emphasizes the “nightmare that families are experiencing”. “When I also saw the images of the library” he says, “custodian of the collective memory of Niscemi, a few meters from the abyss, I thought it would be important, where possible, to be able to save its contents. It would mean protecting the very identity of the community, its history and its future”.

Francesca Maccani: “They are not just books, they are roots”

Also Francesca Maccania writer who is not Sicilian but was adopted by the island and has told about it in novels such as ‘The women of Acquasanta’ and ‘Agata nel vento’ spends her time in the library. “I speak as a non-Sicilian, but with a heart full of respect for this extraordinary land and its history” she says, “They are not just books: they are roots, identity, future. They are the living testimony of a community that has always believed in culture as a common good, as a bridge between generations. You don’t need to be Sicilian to understand what it means to lose such a heritage. You just need to be people who believe in the value of knowledge, in the dignity of memory, in the responsibility towards what has been entrusted to us. Letting a library sink means accepting that a piece of civilization falls.”

Francesco Musolino: “A piece of memory is collapsing”

“In Niscemi, not just a ridge of land is collapsing. A piece of memory is collapsing,” he says Francesco Musolinoauthor of ‘Giallo Lipari’ and literary critic, “I am a son of this land, I chose to stay on the island and I want to say it clearly: saving that library means saving the identity of a country, preventing the past from being buried. I ask the regional and national institutions to intervene urgently to secure the volumes and start their recovery”.

Costanza Di Quattro: the pain and memory of homes

Also Costanza Di Quattroauthor of ‘The Wrath of God’ which recounts the devastating earthquake in the Val di Noto and director of the Donnafugata Theatre, joins the appeal without forgetting “the immense pain of people forced to leave their homes, which are not just concrete shells but guardians of souls and family memories”. The concern for the library, he adds, is the “legitimate concern of an entire community” for a “cultural garrison that could collapse, taking the history of the city among the rubble”.

Giusina Battaglia: “Every day can be your last”

“Saving the Niscemi library is an important and necessary act” he says Giusina Battagliaknown to the general public for the program ‘Giusina in cucina’ and author of numerous cooking volumes, “It is essential not to lose the memory, the culture, that indelible part of our history which is preserved in those precious volumes. We need to hurry because every day could be the last chance”.

Giusy Sciacca: “An act of love and responsibility”

Giusy Sciaccaauthor of ‘Feminine Virality Singular Plural’ and ‘D’amore e di rage’ highlights how “we are witnessing in real time the crumbling of a territory, which cannot in any way be reduced to material damage alone or to the approximate estimate of the real estate assets”. “There is the experience, the sacrifice, the memory and the tomorrow of the inhabitants of Niscemi,” he adds, “a hard-working community that experiences immense suffering with profound dignity. Saving the Angelo Marsiano library is an act of love and responsibility towards Niscemi and all of Sicily”.

Elvira Seminara and the symbolic value of libraries

Elvira Seminara quotes Yourcenar: “Libraries are public granaries where you gather reserves against the winter of the spirit.” “The granaries” he says, “must be preserved – from fires, from cyclones, from our carelessness and indifference. The Niscemi library is even more: it is an archive of memories and testimonies, it is the chain of an identity that strengthens roots and future. Letting it die is a massacre”.

Gaetano Savatteri: “Does memory have a future?”

He questions himself about the memory of the future Gaetano Savatteriauthor, among others, of the detective stories that inspired the TV series ‘Makari’. “Does memory have a future? But the future, built on the past and on history, must be safeguarded and defended. The wounds of the territories erase memory” he says “They erase houses, hopes and collective memories. The historic Marsciano library contains the memory of Niscemi. Saving people, things, affections and memories is essential to be able to start again. Because we start again from the past to build the future. The Niscemi library with its four thousand historical volumes is the symbol of a possible refoundation that does not erase the past, but gives a future to the memory”.

Rosita Manuguerra: “The heart of a city”

“The memory of Niscemi is also our memory” he says for his part Rosita Manuguerraauthor of ‘Malanima’ and now involved in the recovery of the library of Favignana, the island where she lives, “this appeal is the concrete demonstration that we don’t just care about the walls, but about the historical memory of a place, its identity, its very soul. It is safeguarding the heart of a city already harassed by the landslide of recent days and the long-term costs that will derive from it”.

“Losing the Niscemi library” he adds “would be equivalent to increasing that percentage of territories without cultural spaces, in a region where too many citizens already do not have access even to a bookshop or a library in their own municipality. We cannot afford further steps backwards. Every closed library is a sign of renunciation: faced with the educational and cultural challenges of our time, especially in the most disadvantaged territories, choosing not to fight means accepting a collective regression”.

Stefania Petyx: “Save those books”

“If the Niscemi library collapses, we don’t just lose a building. We lose our memory, and without memory a country becomes as fragile as its walls. So save those books!” gloss Stefania Petyxcorrespondent of the program Striscia la Notizia.