Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- In downtown Lisbon, tourists pose beside a life-size bronze statue of a man in a hat and bow tie sitting on a chair at a sidewalk cafe.

They’re joining, sometimes unwittingly, a stream of visitors drawn to Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s most famous 20th-century poet and something of a cult figure, with his image splashed all over town.

“It’s ironic because Pessoa didn’t like to stand out from the crowd,” translator Richard Zenith says on the sidelines of a Lisbon conference dedicated to the poet.

The event was organized by Casa Fernando Pessoa, a museum installed in the house where Pessoa lived for the 15 years prior to his death in 1935. Hoping to turn Pessoa into a city symbol -- a James Joyce for Lisbon -- the museum invited philosophers, writers and painters to town this month to round out a year of commemorations marking his birthday 120 years ago this past June.

Lisbon restaurants and cafes capitalize on the image of the timid writer in his hat, glasses and black suit to attract tourists. The cafe with the statue, A Brasileira, has become a fixture in guidebooks. So has Martinho d’Arcada, a 226-year-old eatery where the poet often took his meals.

“This is more like a sanctuary” than a restaurant, says the owner, Antonio Sousa, who sports a V-neck sweater vest and speaks of Martinho as if it were a beloved relative. “I can’t remember how many times I’ve stopped what I was doing to go over to a client to speak of Pessoa.”

Early Death

Pessoa, who spent many an evening at Martinho writing and drinking, died at 47 of tuberculosis. A friend, philosopher and author Agostinho da Silva, has said the poet would have died even earlier were it not for Martinho.

The previous owners helped keep Pessoa alive by frequently sharing their own dinner with him, Sousa says. These days, he adds with a smile, “Pessoa keeps Martinho alive.”

Born in Lisbon on June 13, 1888, Pessoa spent nine of his childhood years in South Africa and later wrote some of his poetry in English. He returned to Lisbon at age 17 and never left, says Zenith, the translator.

“Lisbon is very present in his work -- the places, the streets, the light,” Zenith says.

So taken was Pessoa with the town that he wrote an English- language tourist guide to Lisbon in 1925. It’s still available in local bookstores.

“For a traveler who reaches the city by sea, Lisbon seen from afar rises like a fair vision in a dream,” he wrote. “The domes, the monuments and the old castles rise up above the mass of houses, like far-off heralds of this delightful place.”

Coca-Cola Sloganeer

Pessoa was more than a poet, says the director of the Casa, Ines Pedrosa. “He was an inventor, an astrologer, an entrepreneur.”

He even cooked up a popular advertising slogan for Coca- Cola’s debut in Portugal in 1928: “At first, it’s strange,” goes a rough translation. “Then it takes root.”

Above all, Pessoa was a leading figure in Portugal’s Modernist literary movement. To say that he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms is an understatement: He actually invented four different authors -- complete with their own lives, professions and tastes -- and wrote entire books from their perspectives. He summed up his approach in a poem dated April Fool’s Day, 1931.

“The poet is a faker/ Who’s so good at his act/ He even fakes the pain/ Of pain he feels in fact,” he wrote.

‘Quality Tourism’

Zenith, who has translated most of Pessoa’s works, is now writing a biography to raise the poet’s profile among English speakers. Casa director Pedrosa shares that goal, arguing that Lisbon is missing an opportunity.

“The authorities have no idea how Pessoa can be a stimulus for a quality tourism -- instead of promoting tourism centered on food and sun,” says Pedrosa, a 46-year-old journalist with a full figure, long blonde hair and bangs.

With its framed photos and bookshelves packed with Pessoa’s works, the museum seeks to give visitors a feel for the poet’s life. It also organizes Pessoa workshops and poetry readings.

Though the city created the 15-year-old museum, municipal support has waned, Pedrosa says, partly because Lisbon is struggling to pay 360 million euros ($490 million) owed to suppliers. The Casa received 35,000 euros from the city last year and raised 70,000 euros in donations for the 120th-birthday commemorations.

“We have so much more we want to do,” Pedrosa says, outlining plans for guided tours of Pessoa’s haunts and a book explaining his works to children.

Back at Martinho, Pessoa’s hangout, the walls are covered with newspaper clippings about the restaurant and black-and-white photos of the writer and his friends. Sousa, the owner, keeps Pessoa’s favorite table empty.

All of this attention might have startled Pessoa, who was little known outside Lisbon’s literary circle in his lifetime and wasn’t interested in drawing crowds.

“Being a poet isn’t an ambition of mine,” he wrote. “It’s my way of being alone.”

To contact the reporter on the story: Anabela Reis in Lisbon at areis1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 28, 2008 19:00 EST