Storia dei musulmani di Sicilia. THREE VOLUMES COMPLETE SET.
Amari, Michele (1806-1889).
Synopsis
RARE WORK. Michele Amari (1806 – 1889), one of the most influential and important Arabists in the 19th century Italy. He is considered the leading figure in Italian Orientalism. In 1835, he was elected as a member of the Italian Council of Sciences and Literature. Since his father was in prison for his participation in 1820 revolution, his revolutionary attitude led him also to publish a book about the history of Sicily in the 13th century, which was considered at the time as a prelude to the 1848 revolution. Consequently, he fled to Paris, where he studied Arabic under the famous French Arabist Renaud, and contributed to Journale Asiatique.
He republished his work on Sicily in 1842, after adding freshly new information which he gathered from several Arabic manuscripts, especially from the collection of the Bibliothéque Royale in Paris. This work was published several times in French, Italian, English, and German.
In 1848, when the Italian revolution started in Palermo, he returned to Italy, and was appointed a Minister of Finance, and elected as a member of parliament. In 1859, he started teaching Arabic at the University of Pisa, and at the Imperial College in Florence. He co-operated with Garibaldi as a minister of education (1861) and attended the Orientalist Conference held in Florence in 1878.
This work is considered the most important historical research that has ever been done on the history of the Arabs in Sicily. Although Amari translated from Arabic parts of Ibn Jubair and Ibn Hawkal’s journeys, and several other works by prominent Sicilian Arabs, his history of Islamic Sicily was the triumph of all his works. Carlo Nallino (1872 – 1938), the leading Italian Arabist in the 20th century, edited Amari’s work, and wrote a detailed analytical introduction with indexes and references.
