Salvatore Boscarino e il restauro del patrimonio dei castelli di Sicilia fra conoscenza, conservazione, fruizione e valorizzazione

The sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Italian Castle Institute (1964-2024) and the twenty-year anniversary (2024, 26) of the establishment and first edition (1998) of the National Prize for Degree Thesis on Fortified Architecture, named after the good man, master of life and science, Professor Salvatore Boscarino (1925-2001), provide us with the opportunity, first of all, to celebrate two birthdays, as well as to discuss, converse, and continue to learn about the scholar to whom the national prize is dedicated. Among Boscarino's most recent essays is "Castles of Sicily, Memory and Knowledge," which plays a key role in the volume. This volume presented the first census of Sicilian castles, proposed by the Sicilian Section of the Italian Castles Institute to the Sicilian Region, Departments of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, and Public Education, and promoted by the latter through the Regional Center for the Inventory, Cataloguing, and Documentation of Cultural and Environmental Heritage. In his essay, Boscarino emphasizes the importance of fortified architecture because it "is not only an important chapter in the history of architecture, military technology, and construction, but also a tangible testimony to the civil history of this land."