Michele Amari

Born July 7, 1806, in Palermo; died July 16, 1889, in Florence. Italian historian and political figure.

Amari was an opponent of the feudal absolutist regime of the Neopolitan Bourbons. In 1849 he published the book On the “War of the Vespers,” which became a success among the revolutionaries of his time. He was forced to move to France, where he lived until 1859 (except during 1848–49). He took an active part in the revolution of 1848–49 in southern Italy and was a member of the revolutionary government. He was minister of education from 1862 to 1864. During 1854–72 he wrote a history of the Arabs in Sicily. Amari idealized the relations between the rulers and the people in Sicily until the assumption of the Anjou dynasty (under both the Arabs and the Norman dynasty). Nevertheless, Amari’s works present a wealth of factual material and a new and more correct interpretation of several significant problems of Sicilian history.