Carlo Cataldo

Carlo Cataldo (born 7 June 1933 in Alcamo) is an Italian historian, poet and teacher.

Since a child Cataldo has been fond of reading and studying historical events; in 1943, when schools were closed because of war in the district of Alcamo, he devoted himself to read the newspaper Giornale di Sicilia (which every day was bought by his father) in order to know the most important news. He even read La Divina Commedia and I promessi sposi that he found in his father’s library.

He consulted books of history and copied news on patriots, scientists and other personalities, then he listed and made an inventory, adding data taken from other sources of information. since a boy he showed his literary talent, by publishing at only 14 years old a short poem in dialect, dedicated to the patroness saint of Alcamo and entitled A Maria SS. di li Miraculi, ni lu quartu cintinariu di la so' truvazioni.

When he was still a student at the tenth grade (terza liceo), he won the first prize in a National contest proclaimed by the Ministry of Public Education (Italy) among the students, on the subject "the cult of trees” (il culto degli alberi"); he published an appreciated collection of poems entitled Nirvana azzurro where expressed joy, hope and love for his native land; in his juvenile dreams he longs for a clear sky, a day without tomorrow.

He graduated in Letters with first-class honours on 28 June 1956 at the university of Palermo, with the thesis entitled Folklore di Alcamo, as he had always been fond of folklore and dialect poetry; he has also taught Letters for forty years, the last twenty of them at Liceo classico "Cielo d'Alcamo" in Alcamo.

He is a classical poet, cultured and refined, and his literary activity is intense and substantial: apart from his history, art and folklore books, he has published a lot of works, in verse and prose, of his fellow citizens, carefully editing them, so giving value to Sicilian dialect culture.

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