Last June 27th, in the council chamber of the Municipality of Prato, the presentation of the book by Paolo Marrocchesi, president of the Study Center “Giorgio La Pira” of Poggibonsi, took place; the occasion also allowed to remember the Modican Angelo Scivoletto.
During the presentation of the book, entitled “The Roots with Wings” (Betti Editrice), by Paolo Marrocchesi there was a bit of Sicily, in fact among the scheduled speeches was also that of Corrado Monaca from Ispicia, author of afterword to the volume. Who in his speech offered the opportunity to remember, among other things, the figure of the Modican sociologist Angelo Scivoletto who passed away in 2016.
The author Paolo Marrocchesi, born in 1938, in his book retraces the salient moments of his life: the war period, his work and political commitment in the post-war period; his Catholic-inspired associations and the various editions of the Giorgio La Pira Award, organized between the 1980s and 1990s by the homonymous Study Center of Poggibonsi, up to the present day. The volume is completed by a large photographic repertoire and an appendix of writings and external contributions.
Among these is the text by Monaca. After recalling their common militancy, the sharing of Giorgio La Pira’s principles and the long friendship that binds him to Marrocchesi (dating back to 1988), the Ispica native has set down on the page some political, cultural and personal reflections that arose from reading “Le radici con le ali”. One, in particular, he dedicated to the moving memory of Angelo Scivoletto, an unjustly forgotten figure.
Angelo Scivoletto was born in Modica on 24 July 1925, graduating in Philosophy in Catania with Carmelo Ottaviano, also from Modica. Initially he began teaching at the municipal scientific high school of Scicli (1950-51). In 1951-52 he moved to Tuscany to teach History and Philosophy in the classical high school of the Scolopi Fathers, which became the Cicognini National Boarding School in the city of Prato.
In the meantime, the philosopher Carmelo Ottaviano, his professor, advised him to meet a highly rigorous scholar, Prof. Gaetano Capone Braga of the University of Florence, from whom he received stimulating suggestions. In Florence he also met his fellow countryman Giorgio La Pira, of whom he became a friend and collaborator. With him he had a deep bond between religious inspiration, prayer, action for peace and political-cultural activity, which lasted until 1967.
Professor Angelo Scivoletto also edited the editorial series “Philosophia”, which published scientific articles by young researchers in social philosophical studies. In 1970 he founded the Institute of Sociology of Parma – which later became the Department of Political and Social Studies – of which he was director until 1999, also serving as Dean of the Faculty of Education from 1978 to 1986. A scholar of Émile Durkheim, he dedicated a book to him – Il metodo sociologico di Émile Durkheim, F. Angeli, Milan, 1970 – which remains a point of reference in sociological culture to this day.
In addition to the authors, the presentation was attended by Gabriele Alberti, president of the Prato municipal council, Francesco Zini, professor of political philosophy at the University of Siena, Maurizio Cotta, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Siena, Roberto Cenni, former mayor of Prato, and Marco Ricceri general secretary of EURISPES.
