Amari, Michele
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Amari, Michele: (b. July 7, 1806, Palermo; d. July 15, 1889, Florence). Historian, orientalist, statesman. He was the son of the Sicilian revolutionary leader Emerico Amari. He published Fondazione della Monarchia dei Normanni in Sicilia (1834), Un Periodo delle Istorie Siciliane del Secolo XIII (1841), and La Guerra del Vespro Siciliano (1842) These works, dealing largely the 13th Century Sicilian Vespers revolt, was considered inflammatory by the Bourbon government. The books were banned and Amari, accused of being a member of the Carbonari, was forced to flee to France to avoid arrest. There he remained until the outbreak of the 1848 revolution in Sicily allowed him to return home for a short time. Under the new revolutionary Sicilian government, Amari served as finance minister. The collapse of the revolutionary government and restoration of Bourbon power forced Amari to return to Paris. There he concentrated on literary pursuits until 1859 when he became a follower of Garibaldi. Following Garibaldi’s conquest of the island, Amari again returned home.
In 1861, Amari joined the new Italian government as a Senator and President of the Lieutenancy of Sicily. From 1862 to 1864, he served as Minister of Public Instruction. After leaving government service, he became a professor of Arabic at Pisa and, later, Florence, finally retiring in 1878. Besides the works already mentioned, he also wrote La Sicile et les Bourbond (1849), Storia dei Musulmanni di Sicilia (1853-73), I diplomi arabi del archivio florentino (1863-72), Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula (Rome, 1880), and Altre Narrazioni del Vespro Siciliano (1886).