Poets on Trains for World Poetry Day: FS Italiane Initiative

For World Poetry Day on March 21, an annual UNESCO celebration established in 1999, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane launched the 'Poeti in Viaggio' initiative. Five contemporary poets—Davide Rondoni, Flaminia Colella, Melania Panico, Denata Ndreca, and Erika Di Felice—shared their reflections on the connection between poetry and railways. Rondoni, in a video, stated that poetry has been on trains since the first one and never left. He noted his birthplace opposite a station in Forlì and mentioned that Pablo Neruda was a railway worker's son, as was his mentor Mario Luzi. He argued that many poems have been born on trains, inspired by the world seen through windows. The initiative also references Eugenio Montale's poem 'Nel fumo,' which evokes waiting at a station. The event highlights poetry as a form of cultural and linguistic expression, with trains serving as a metaphor for life's journey.