Ignazio De Blasi

Ignazio De Blasi (Alcamo, 1717-1783) was an Italian historian. He was the first scholar who wrote a history of his town providing documentary evidence on it.

Ignazio De Blasi was born in Alcamo in 1717, the son of Benedetto de Blasi, a notary, and his wife Francesca Puglisi. He was awarded the degree of Duty and Laws at the University of Catania in 1741, and on 19 April 1746 he married Angela Manfrè, who bore him a daughter, Maria Anna. He died in 1783 in Alcamo, and was buried in the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Wishing to publish his difficult historical research, he was admitted into the group of the Academy of the Good Taste of Alcamo in 1746. He wrote the history even as he was engaged with the administration of the municipality and of various charities, together with his public teaching activity at the Jesuits' college.

The complete work of Ignazio De Blasi is collected in a volume of 1900 pages entitled : Discorso storico della opulenta città di Alcamo situata a piè del Monte Bonifato, e dell'antichissima città di Longarico ossia Lacarico, dopo detta Alcamo, su di esso monte.

De Blasi examined the memories of three priests from Alcamo: Cammarata, Zappante and Cossentino; consulted all the documents of the archives of parishes, of the town archives and of the dead notaries, whose keeper was his father. So, thanks to his tireless hard work, he completed a volume containing 1900 pages.

Since the dedication and introduction of the book, it is clear that the author believed that he had entirely maintained his hard commitment; actually the manuscript is an orderly collection of information, divided into 48 chapters, about the coat of arms, the mount and its neighbouring rivers, the origin,the domains, the territory, churches, nunneries, friaries and all charities, famous people, privileges and other memorable things of the town.

At about 1780, De Blasi wrote the earliest known description of the archaeological site on Mount Bonifato, reporting some information about two Latin inscriptions (of doubtful origin) and an Arab coin.

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