Francesco Renda
Francesco Renda | |
---|---|
Born | Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily | 18 February 1922
Died | 12 May 2013 Palermo | (aged 91)
Occupation(s) | historian, Communist politician and a university professor |
Francesco Renda (18 February 1922 – 12 May 2013) was an Italian Marxist historian, Communist politician and a university professor.
Renda was born in
Portella della Ginestra Massacre
He was an eye-witness of the Portella della Ginestra massacre, when 11 people were killed and 27 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947, by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano and his band. That May morning he was supposed to speak at Portella, but due to a defect of his motorcycle he arrived late. "Before my eyes this horrific tragedy happened," Renda recalls. Immediately after the massacre, the peasants of Piana wanted their own justice, threatening to kill the mafiosi of their county. "I convinced them,” Renda remembered, "that that would have been the provocation needed to outlaw the Communists."[2]
Political career
In 1951 he was elected member of the
Academic career
He did not run again in 1972 and returned to the University. He became Professor of Modern History at the Faculty of Political Science of
His most important works are a history of the Fasci Siciliani, the Sicilian Mafia, and a 1493-page history of Sicily in three volumes (Storia della Sicilia dal 1860 al 1970) published in 2003.[5][6]
Since 1997, he was a professor emeritus at the University of Palermo. He died on 12 May 2013 in Palermo.[5][7]
References
- ^ a b (in Italian) Addio a Francesco Renda Archived 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine, Blog Sicilia (Giornale di Sicilia), 12 May 2013
- ^ (in Italian) Una provocazione contro la sinistra?, La Sicilia, May 1, 2011
- ^ (in Italian) Profilo Deputato Renda Francesco, Assamblea Regionale Siciliana
- ^ (in Italian) Francesco Renda, Senato della Repubblica
- ^ a b c (in Italian) Morto lo storico Francesco Renda, La Repubblica, 12 May 2013
- ^ a b (in Italian) Così Renda raccontò la storia dell'Isola, La Repubblica, 14 May 2013
- ^ (in Italian) Funerali laici per Francesco Renda; memoria di uomini e cose di Sicilia, Blog Sicilia (Giornale di Sicilia), 13 May 2013