User:Susanna Bellafiore/sandbox

Giuseppe Bellafiore (Santa Ninfa, 1 January 1920 - Palermo, 19 July 2012 ) was an Italian art historian, journalist and essayist. He collaborated with various periodicals such as “Chiarezza”, “Accademia”, “La Regione Siciliana”, “Voce della Sicilia”, “Comunità”, “Giornale di Sicilia”, “L’Ora”, "L'Unità", "La Repubblica" and numerous of his articles appeared in magazines such as “Sicilia”, “Tutt’Italia”, “Kalos”, “Italia Nostra”, "Palladio", "Bollettino d'Arte of the Ministry of the Public Instruction”, etc. He wrote various art history monographs, in particular on the Arab and Norman period in Sicily and on the city of Palermo.

Biography After his family moved to Palermo, he attended Giovanni Meli High School from 1933 to 1938, focusing on humanities. In July 1942, he earned a degree in Arts with honors and his thesis on “The origins of feudalism in Sicily” was published. In 1942 the Institute of German Studies awarded him with a scholarship for a specialization course in Germany, which he, however, could not attend because of the outbreak of Second World War. On that same year, he enrolled again at university and, on February 1948, earned his second degree in Political Sciences with honors. In 1943 he was called to arms. He completed his military training at the Livorno Naval Academy and was given the rank of sub-lieutenant. In July 1943, while he was in Sicily, was captured by American soldiers who transferred him to Africa and then moved him from camp to camp between Tunisia and Algeria. After the armistice, he cooperated with the Americans and, thanks to his knowledge of both English and French, he was sent to France and later to Belgium. At the end of the war he returned to Palermo. In 1946 he got engaged with Antonietta Bonomo and they married on 5 September 1948. Soon after his graduation, in the academic year 1942-43, he became teacher of Italian at the Vittorio Emanuele Middle School in Palermo. This first teaching experience was interrupted by his enrollment in the army. After the war, he took up his teaching career on 1 October 1946 as Italian and Art History teacher in Giovanni Meli High School and Giuseppe Garibaldi High School in Palermo. From 1 October 1949 to 30 September 1954 he was Italian teacher at the middle schools of Termini Imerese and Misilmeri, in the province of Palermo. From 1 October 1954 to 30 September 1956 he taught Italian and History in the Technical Institutes. From 1 October 1956 he became ordinary professor of Art History at Giuseppe Garibaldi High School until 1971. At the same time, he worked at the University of Palermo. From 1946 to 1956, he collaborated with the Professor of Medieval History, Antonino de Stefano, at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Philosophy. From 1956 to 1962, he worked with the Professor of History of Architecture, Guido Di Stefano, at the Faculty of Architecture. During the academic year 1962-63, Professor Renato Bonelli, who taught the course of ‘History of Architecture II’, invited him to give lectures on ‘Sicilian Medieval Architecture’. At the Faculty of Architecture, the Professor of Elements of Architecture, Luigi Vagnetti, chose him to contribute to the researches and studies of the planimetry of Palermo’s historical center and its most important monuments. In June 1964, he received his teaching qualification for Art History and History of Architecture Styles at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Palermo. He was professor until the academic year 1977-78. In that same year, he returned to the Faculty of Arts teaching ‘Medieval and Modern Art History’ and in 1985 he became ordinary professor. From 1984 to 1994 he directed the homonymous Institute. He retired in 1996. In 2006 he donated his personal library to the Santa Ninfa Municipality and his numerous and precious books are now in the Biblioteca Comunale “Nino Cordio”. During his professional life he was engaged in various activities. In 1957 he was among the founders of the Palermo Section of the Italia Nostra Association, taking the role of secretary. He was later appointed President and maintained this role for 44 years, from 1963 to 2007. From 2008 to 2012 he was Honorary President. From 1965 to 1999 he was national council member of the Italia Nostra Association and in 1990 was appointed National Vice President. He was also President of the Sicilian Regional Council in various years. From 1968 to 1985 he was President of the ‘Ente per i Palazzi e le Ville di Sicilia’. For 25 years, he was among the members of the ‘Consiglio Regionale dei Beni Culturali ed Ambientali della Regione Siciliana’. From 1983 to 1996 we was member of the ‘Comitato per lo Studio e la Conservazione dei Giardini Storici del Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali’, of the ‘Commissione Urbanistica della Città di Palermo’ and, from 1951, was member of the ‘Società Siciliana di Storia Patria di Palermo’, participating to various conventions and delivering lectures. Numerous of his articles were published on the “Archivio Storico Siciliano”.

Publications

 * Palermo - Guida della città e dei dintorni, I edizione, Novara, IGDA,1956;
 * Sizilien, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1957;
 * ''Palermo - Fuhrer der Stadt und der Umgebung, Novara, IGDA, 1959;
 * Palermo - Guida della città e dei dintorni, II edizione, Palermo, Giuseppe Bellafiore, 1971; III edizione, 1980; IV edizione, 1995; V edizione, 2002; VI edizione, 2009;
 * Palermo – A guide to the city and its environs, Palermo, Giuseppe Bellafiore, 1974;
 * La civiltà artistica della Sicilia dalla preistoria ad oggi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1963;
 * Il paesaggio urbano siciliano nelle antiche stampe, Palermo, Edizioni Andò, 1962, 1965, 1967;
 * La Maniera italiana in Sicilia. Profilo dell'urbanistica e della architettura, Palermo, Palumbo, I edizione 1962, II edizione 1963;
 * Idea di Palermo Barocca, Palermo, Editori Stampatori Associati, 1971;
 * Dall'Islam alla Maniera, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1975;
 * La cattedrale di Palermo, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1976, II edizione 1999;
 * The cathedral of Palermo, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1976
 * La Zisa di Palermo, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1978, II edizione 1994, III edizione 2008;
 * Dar Al-'Aziz presso Palermo, un solatium di Guglielmo I detto la Zisa, Il Cairo, 1978, Book of the 50th Anniversary of arabo Archaeological Studies in Cairo University;
 * Architettura in Sicilia (1415-1535), Palermo, Italia Nostra, 1984;
 * Architettura in Sicilia nelle età islamica e normanna (827-1194), Palermo, Arnaldo Lombardi Editore, 1990;
 * Architettura dell'età sveva in Sicilia (1194-1266), Palermo, Arnaldo Lombardi Editore, 1993;
 * Parchi e giardini della Palermo normanna, Palermo, S.F. Flaccovio Editore, 1996;
 * Il centro storico di Palermo, Palermo, Italia Nostra, 2003.