Agostino Inveges
Agostino Inveges was an Italian historian, known as "the Historian of Palermo".
Life
Born in Sciacca, he was the son of Don Mario Inveges, and Donna Porzia Marino, both were a part of noble Sicilian families. His maternal grandfather was Barone Giovanni Agostino Marino, Baron of Callisi and Villanova. He first studied with the Jesuits, graduating in theology and philosophy. He died in Palermo in 1677, at the age of 82. He is buried in the Baroque church of Sant'Ignazio all'Olivella, in Palermo.Inveges is chiefly remembered for his three-volume history of Palermo, Annali della felice Città di Palermo. The three volumes cover the period 2077 B.C. to 1279 A.D.
In opposition to humanist rhetorical historiography, Inveges concluded the preface to the first volume of his huge history of Palermo, caming out against historians who employ “pretty descriptions, capricious metaphors, scheming admonitions, or other ornaments allowed to poets and academicians”. He showed concern for critical, source-based historical research, showing affinities with the new approaches of contemporary historians like the Maurists in Paris and the Bollandists in Antwerp.
Works
- Annali della felice città di Palermo, prima sedia, corona del Re, e Capo del Regno di Sicilia..., Palermo, nella stamparia di Pietro dell'Isola, in 3 voll.:
- Historia sacra Paradisi terrestris et sanctissimi innocentiae status, Palermo, 1649
- La Cartagine siciliana, historia divisa in tre libri, Palermo, nella typographia di Giuseppe Bisagni: ;
- ''Annales regni Siciliae''