Michele Amari


Michele Amari was an Italian patriot and historian.

Biography

Born at Palermo son of Ferdinando and Giulia Venturelli, he devoted a great part of his life to the history of Sicily. Amari was also an Orientalist, who investigated the true character of the Sicilian Vespers. He also served as the Italy's first minister of public education.
Amari became an important figure during the Risorgimento. A liberal republican and carbonarist, who after the fall of Joachim Murat supported Sicilian secession. He became a link between Prime Minister Camillo Benso di Cavour and influential Sicilians, helping to convince them to support Italian unification. Amari did so expecting Cavour to grant Sicily some regional autonomy after unification.
He died at Florence in 1889.

Works

Amari's historical works focus on Medieval Sicilian history, including extensive works on the period of Muslim control. His efforts have earned him acknowledgment as one of 19th century Europe's premier translators of Medieval Arabic writings. His Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia has been translated into many languages, including Arabic by a group of Egyptian scholars in 2004.
His translation from an Arabic manuscript of a mirror for princes text, including a biography of its author, the medieval Sicilian Arab Ibn Zafar al Siqilli, was published in 1851. Richard Bentley translated Amari's Italian translation of this 12th century work by the so-called " Machiavelli precursor" into English and published it under the title Solwan, or Waters of Comfort in 1852.

Works