Saitta, Armando

Saitta, Armando 

Born Mar. 15, 1919, in Sant’Angelo di Brolo, Sicily. Italian historian.

In 1951, Saitta became a docent, and in 1954 a professor, of modern history at the University of Pisa. In 1967, in Rome, he became director of the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Italian History.

From 1953 to 1956, Saitta was editor of the journal Movimento operaio (Worker’s Movement). In 1962 he founded the journal Critica Storica (Historical Review). His scholarly research has been devoted mainly to the history of Italy during the French Revolution and under Napoleon, to Italian jacobinism, to the secret societies of the Risorgimento, and to Utopian socialism, especially Babouvism. Saitta’s two volumes on F. Buonarroti, which are based on previously unused archival material, are his best-known work. A series of documents on the history of diplomatic relations between France and the Italian states from 1815 to 1860 is being published under Saitta’s direction.