Depicts a portrait of Italo Calvino. On the left, “1923 2023”, the date of the author’s birth and that of the coin’s issue respectively. Around, “REPUBBLICA ITALIANA” and “ITALO CALVINO”.

Depicts a scene from Italo Calvino’s 1957 novel The Baron in the Trees (Il Barone Rampante) with the two main characters, Cosimo and Viola, reproduced in the foreground against a profile of the Ligurian coast and Sanremo in particular, a city which was very dear to the author. On the right, “R”, identifies the Mint of Rome, and the value “5 EURO”, in exergue, the name of the designer “AVecchio”.

The Baron in the Trees is a 1957 novel that tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the rest of his life inhabiting an arboreal kingdom.

The novel Baron in the Trees is the story of a young baron, Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, firstborn of a noble family sadly behind the times. The main story begins with a dispute on June 15, 1767 in the villa of Ombrosa, between an adolescent Cosimo and his father, after which Cosimo, who had quarreled with his father because he had refused to eat a snail soup, climbs the trees of the home garden and promises never to come down again in his entire life.

After the quarrel, Cosimo's life takes place in the trees; first in the family garden and then in the surrounding woods. Cosimo's life is full of adventures, from friendships with fruit thieves and bandits to days spent hunting or reading. In the life of the baron there is no lack of amorous encounters either. Cosimo's fame spreads quickly. At first, he becomes famous as a freak show and his family is almost ashamed of him, but later he also finds a way to win the respect of the Ombrosa community. The return of Viola, his first love, triggers a mutual feeling, always existent, which sadly ends due to a series of misunderstandings. The love between the two is strong, even if the relationship is filled with furious quarrels. Its end comes about in an unusual way: aged and sick, feeling the onset of death, Cosimo climbs to the top of a large walnut tree and hangs himself on a passing balloon. Thus, without betraying his promise to never set foot on the earth again, he disappears into the sky, without even giving the earth his remains.