PITRÈ, GIUSEPPE. - The foremost scholar of popular traditions Italy has produced, and one of the most distinguished in Europe, b. at Palermo on 22 Dec. 1841, d. there on 9 Apr. 1916. He practised medicine throughout his life, never interrupting his scholarly activity. He founded a Museum of Sicilian Ethnography (now at the Favorita and enlarged through the efforts of Prof. G. Cocchiara). In his final years he held the chair of demopsychology at the University of Palermo.
His principal work remains the Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane in 25 vols., which gathers the Corpus of the island’s traditional life, illustrating all its aspects, from songs, tales and legends, customs and practices, festivals and entertainments, to games, proverbs, riddles, etc. Also of great importance is the Bibliografia delle tradizioni popolari d'Italia (up to 1894: a second volume, in manuscript with his heirs, extends to 1916). In 1882 he founded, together with another distinguished Sicilian folklorist, S. Salomone Marino, and directed for more than twenty years the Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari, to which eminent philologists and ethnographers contributed. Alongside the journal he established the series Curiosità popolari tradizionali (15 vols.).
P. always knew how to combine an accurate and extensive collection of materials with a profound understanding of popular psychology and life.