The places of the literary story of Luigi Natoli (I Beati Paoli)
Well included in the IWB register of the Sicily Region (The Places of the literary, cinematographic, television story) - Sector "The Places of the literary tale by Luigi Natoli
This is the list of places entered in the LIM register:
(The Blessed Pauls) (Palermo):
- Catacomb of the Ossuna gate,
- Cave of the Canceddi or Santa Church
maruzza, - Floor of the Cathedral,
- Cassaro today Corso V. Emanuele,
- Piazza Villiena today Quattro Canti di Città,
- Head Quarter,
- Serenari Palace
Form:
The Blessed Paoli is an appendix novel by the Sicilian writer and journalist Luigi Natoli, signed with the pseudonym of William Galt and originally appeared on the Giornale di Sicilia in 239 episodes from May 6, 1909 to January 2, 1910.
In 1912 the Palermo publisher The Gutenberg he published it in volume; in 1949 it appeared in handouts for the types of La Madonnina di Milano, which in turn published it in volume in 1955. In 1971 the Palermo publishing house Flaccovio republished the novel, preceding it with an introduction by semiologist Umberto Eco and a note history of Rosario La Duca.
There is also a sequel to the novel, Coriolano della Floresta or the secret of the hermit, from 1930.
The story is inspired by the exploits of the legendary secret sect of the Beati Paoli, which is said to have been active in Sicily in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries: the novel mixes fictional characters with real characters. Natoli took scrupulous care in faithfully reconstructing the environment of Palermo at the beginning of the eighteenth century down to the smallest detail, and his narration deviates only in a few moments from historical reality, using rigorously as sources for the facts narrated and the descriptions of places and scenarios the Palermo diary by Antonio Mongitore, the History of the Viceroys of Sicily by Giovanni Evangelista Di Biasi and the press reports on public parties and ceremonies.
The book was an extraordinary success, transversal to all social classes. A film was also made from the novel, The knights with black masks (I Beati Paoli), directed by Pino Mercanti, from 1947
