"Closing this door would mean closing ourselves off from history and the future." These are the words of Father Renato "Kizito" Sesana, founder of Koinonia community – a community that fights in Africa to give a second chance to street children – speaking about the Porta di Lampedusa which, like the Statue of Liberty in New York, welcomes those who arrive on the island. Very, far too often, making that journey comes at a high price, paid with one's own life. The monument is, in fact, dedicated to the memory of the migrants who have lost their lives at sea.

Alda Merini's poem for the inauguration of the Porta di Lampedusa

The Porta di Lampedusa – Porta d'Europa was born from the vision of Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori, a publisher, and of Amani, the NGO based in Milan that, together with Koinonia, helped build and continues to support reception houses, and educational, scholastic and vocational centres in Kenya and Zambia. The monument, conceived by Domenico Paladino using galvanised iron and refractory ceramic, stands five metres tall and three metres wide and was inaugurated on 28 June 2008. For the occasion, the poet Alda Merini wrote:

Once I dreamed
of being a giant tortoise
with an ivory skeleton
dragging children and little ones and seaweed
and refuse and flowers
and everyone clung to me,
on my hard shell.

I was a tortoise staggering
under the weight of love
very slow to understand
and quick to bless.

And so, my children,
once they threw you into the water
and you clung to my shell
and I carried you to safety
because this sea turtle
is the earth
that saves you
from death by water.

A monument so we do not forget

Exactly ten years have passed since it was created, yet what the Porta di Lampedusa symbolises is more relevant than ever. It exists so that we do not forget families swallowed by the depths without leaving a trace: from 1993 to today, at least 27,000 people have drowned in their attempt to reach Europe. And it prompts reflection on the fact that so often insecurity drives us to lock the door, yet the most beautiful moments are those we spend with guests in our home. "We can no longer think of our small world as the centre of the universe, but we see that beyond our borders, which are losing more and more of their meaning, there is a great new world teeming with life," Father Kizito continues.

New York's most famous statue holds a torch, a symbol of the eternal flame of freedom sought by those who flee. Ideally, it serves to light the way for ships arriving in port – much like the lighthouse at Capo Grecale on Lampedusa. And that, too, will never go out.