ROMANO, GIUSEPPE. - Jesuit philosopher and scholar, b. at Termini (Palermo) on 3 January 1810, d. at Constantinople on 27 March 1878. He was a member and secretary of the R. Accademia di Palermo. During the revolution of 1848 he distinguished himself through his patriotic activity and writings. In 1860 he had to leave Sicily for Spain and Constantinople. For his scientific merits he was granted French and Spanish citizenship.
He initially adhered to an eclecticism that sought to reconcile Cousin (whose esteem he enjoyed) and his contemporaries with Scholasticism. An admirer of Gioberti (from whom, together with his friend Taparelli, he received praise in the Prolegomeni al primato), he contributed to the triumph of Giobertian ontologism in Sicily. He was not, however, an ontologist, but rather a Scholastic who also sought to make use of Descartes and Gioberti.
Besides interesting monographs on numismatics published in La Civiltà Cattolica, and several unpublished writings on the subject, he published Scienza dell'uomo interiore (2nd ed., Naples 1874); Elementi di filosofia (Palermo 1853).