Nicola Barbato

Nicola Barbato
Drawing of Nicola Barbato
Born	(1856-10-05)5 October 1856 Piana dei Greci, Italy
Died	23 May 1923(1923-05-23) (aged 66) Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Medical doctor and politician
Known for	Prominent socialist leader of the Fasci Siciliani

Nicola Barbato (Piana dei Greci, October 5, 1856 - Milan, May 23, 1923) was a Sicilian medical doctor, socialist and politician. He was one of the national leaders of the Fasci Siciliani (Sicilian Leagues) a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration in 1891-1894, and perhaps might have been the ablest among them, according to the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm.

Born in Piana dei Greci (now Piana degli Albanesi), descendant from Arbëreshë, he graduated in medicine at the University of Palermo. He joined the socialist movement around 1878 and in the then prevailing positivist climate he devoted himself to study psychiatry. His work on the psychology of paranoia in the journal of the mental hospital of Palermo in 1890, was judged positively by Cesare Lombroso and Enrico Morselli.

He also was active politically, working for the newspaper L'isola (The Island), directed by Napoleone Colajanni in Palermo. Back in Piana, he witnessed the intense misery on the countryside as a medical officer.

In March 1893, he founded and became the leader of the Fasci dei lavoratori (Workers League) of Piana degli Albanesi, and was known as 'the workers' apostle'. Other leaders included Rosario Garibaldi Bosco in Palermo, Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida in Catania, and Bernardino Verro in Corleone. The Fascio of Piana was one of the more numerous and better organized: there were more than 2,800 members and included many women.