Pietro Maria Rocca
Pietro Maria Rocca (24 August 1847 – 26 August 1918) was an Italian historian. Biography. He was born from a quite rich family in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani; after he had finished his studies among the Jesuits, he entered the episcopal seminary of Mazara del Vallo, but as he had no inclination for an ecclesiastical career, he left this seminary and followed his studies independently. Since his youth, however, he committed himself in the social field and for the public good. In 1863 they founded the first Conference of Saint Vincent de Paul in Alcamo, and  in 1871 Pietro Maria Rocca promoted the institution of a boarding school of little artisans for the sustenance and education of young boys coming from poor families at the ex Convent of Saint Francis. In spite of all its appreciations, the boarding school was closed after a little time due to financial problems. In 1877 inside the Ex Church of Saint James of the Sword they had collected all the books from the convents suppressed by government, and Rocca made himself available for the cataloguing of those books, so originating the Civic Library in Alcamo. In 1881 he was admitted  to the "Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria" and in 1884 he became a municipal councillor: he proposed the realization of a raised floor in the Ex Church of Saint James in order to protect from humidity the books and the notarial deeds he had collected. He also gathered some finds, such as oil lamps and stamps of bent tiles of the Roman age, and later entrusted them to the National Archaeological Museum of Palermo, where they can currently be seen. In 1893, he was appointed as president of the local hospital and he also had the office of Fine  Arts Inspector. During all his life he was keen on the history and monuments of his town, publishing tens of books for which he received several favourable approvals and statements of merit.