Corrado Barbagallo

Born in Sciacca on December 1, 1877, he studied first in Sicily and later in Florence, where he was shaped by an intellectual environment close to socialist ideas. After graduating in 1899, he taught in schools, wrote textbooks, and began publishing historical studies that quickly showed both his range and his independence of mind.

His early work focused on the ancient world, including Greece, Rome, and the economic life of antiquity. Over time, his interests broadened, and in 1917 he founded Nuova Rivista Storica, a major historical journal that he directed until 1930. He later held university posts in economic history at Catania, Naples, and Turin.

Across his career, he wrote with an eye for the larger forces shaping societies, not just isolated events. That broad, energetic approach helped make him an important presence in 20th-century Italian historical writing. He died in 1952.