Giuseppe Pitrè (22 December 184110 April 1916) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

, medical doctor, professor, and senator for

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. As a folklorist he is credited with extending the realm of folklore to include all manifestations of popular life. He is also considered a forerunner in the field of

medical history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

. Born in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

, after serving as a volunteer in 1860 under

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...

, and graduating in medicine in 1866, he threw himself into the study of literature, and wrote the first scientific studies on Italian popular culture, pioneering Italian

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

studies. He founded the study of "folk psychology", in Sicily, teaching at the

University of Palermo The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its ...

. Between 1871 and 1913, he compiled the ''Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane'' ("Library of Sicilian popular traditions"), a collection of Sicilian oral culture in twenty-five volumes. Pitrè's ''Fiabe, novelle e racconti popolari siciliani'' ("Sicilian Fairy Tales, Stories, and Folktales"), 1875, documenting Sicily's rich folkloric heritage derived from both European and

Middle Eastern The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

traditions, is the culmination of the great European folklore scholarship that began earlier in the 19th century. Against the cultural grain of his times, Pitrè championed the common people of Sicily and their customs, and his scholarship of oral narrative tradition is arguably as significant as that of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

. In 1880 Pitrè co-founded the folk traditions journal ''Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari'' (English: Archive for the Study of Popular Traditions), which he edited until 1906, and in 1894 he published a basic bibliography of Italian popular traditions. He was made an honorary member of the

American Folklore Society The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world, which aims to encourage research, aid in disseminating that research, promote the responsible ...

in 1890. Palermo's '' Museo Antropologico Etnografico Siciliano'' was founded in his memory. On February 12, 1915, in his capacity as a secular tarmac, together with the ecclesiastical marammiere Mons. Giuseppe Lagumina, the beneficiary sub-marammiere Baldassare Mangione, the chaplain Lorenzo Lo Verde and a few private citizens, he attended the opening of the porphyry tomb of Ruggero II in the cathedral of Palermo. Pitre was linked by a deep and ancient friendship both with Mons Lagumina, whom he considered an important point of reference for his studies, and with his brother Bartolomeo. Lagumina managed to derive an amusing question between Pitrè and Gioacchino Di Marzo regarding the flowering of the rod of San Giuseppe. Lagumina explained to Pitre that it was "a Jewish legend" and provided him with the required elucidations.

Notes

References

Brief biography
* Amedeo Benedetti, ''“Io vivo nel popolo e del popolo” : Contributo alla vita di Giuseppe Pitrè'', “Esperienze Letterarie”, a. XXXVII (2012), n. 1, gennaio-marzo, pp. 59–84. * Zipes, Jack. :The Indomitable Giuseppe Pitrè." ''Folklore'', volume 120, no. 1 (April 2009): 1-18.

External links

* * * Martinengo-Cesaresco, Evelyn. " Giuseppe Pitrè (Obituary)" ''Folk-Lore''. Volume 27, 1916. pp. 314–316. Italian ethnologists 1841 births 1916 deaths Politicians from Palermo Italian folklorists Folklorists of Sicilian folklore Academic staff of the University of Palermo Burials at San Domenico, Palermo Physicians from Sicily {{ethnologist-stub