Italian folklorist, born in Palermo, on the 23rd of December 1841. On the outbreak of the revolution in 1860 he volunteered into the army of Garibaldi. At the close of the war he studied medicine at Palermo, graduating in 1866. About 1868 he began the great work of his life, when he left the study of literature proper for that of popular literature and folklore generally. With incessant and enthusiastic labor he devoted himself to his chosen study, and enriched science and honored his native land with a long series of books and papers of the highest value, covering the whole field of Italian folklore. His Biblioteca Tradizioni Populari Siciliane includes 19 volumes (1870–91); while another series, Curiosità Popolari Siciliane, includes 10 volumes (1885–91). A large amount of his most valuable work is to be found in the pages of the quarterly journal founded and edited by him in 1882, Archivo per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari. He also published Bibliografia delle Tradizioni Popolari d’Italia (1891).
