Manlio Sgalambro
Manlio Sgalambro (; 9 December 1924 – 6 March 2014) was an Italian philosopher and writer, born in Lentini. Biography. Philosophical production. Sgalambro did not have certificates or degrees as business cards: how he became a writer of philosophy – whose books are translated into French, German and Spanish – is a mystery that he was not able to explain. Beginning In 1945 he worked jointly with the review "Prisma" (directed by Leonardo Grassi): the first writing is "Paralipomeni all'irrazionalismo". In 1947 he matriculated at the University of Catania: From 1959, along with Sebastiano Addamo, he wrote for the magazine "Incidenze" (founded  by Antonio Corsano). His first article for the journal was "Crepuscolo e notte" (reprinted in 2011). Meanwhile he wrote for the journal "Tempo presente" (directed by Nicola Chiaromonte and Ignazio Silone). In 1963, at the age of 39, he got married. The income from citrus orchards inherited from his father was no longer sufficient so he chose to supplement it by undertaking a thesis for a degree and teaching. In the late 1970s Sgalambro began to organize his thoughts in systematic work. Then at the age of 55, he sent his first book, "La morte del sole", to the editor  Adelphi: In the following years, with the same editor, he published: "Trattato dell'empietà", "Anatol", "Del pensare breve", "Dialogo teologico", "Dell'indifferenza in materia di società", "La consolazione", "Trattato dell'età", "De mundo pessimo" and "La conoscenza del peggio" e "Del delitto". In the meanwhile, in the early 1990s, with some friends he established a small editorial activity in Catania: De Martinis. On the inside, Sgalambro managed pamphlets, publishing a pair of works ("Dialogo sul comunismo" and "Contro la musica") and printed some operas by Giulio Cesare Vanini and Julien Benda. Collaboration with Battiato. In 1993 he encountered Franco Battiato, accidentally, during the  presentation of a common friend's poetry book. After few days, Battiato asked him to a meeting to propose to him the libretto for the opus "Il cavaliere dell'intelletto" about Frederik II of Hohenstaufen: From 1994 until his death he collaborated on almost every one of Franco Battiato's projects. For him he wrote: Starting in 1998 he penned song lyrics for Patty Pravo ("Emma"), Fiorella Mannoia ("Il movimento del dare"), Carmen Consoli ("Marie ti amiamo") and Milva ("Non conosco nessun Patrizio"). In 2000 he published the single "La mer", containing the cover of the famous song by Charles Trenet . In 2001 he published the album "Fun club", produced by Franco Battiato and Saro Cosentino, containing evergreen songs like "La vie en rose" (by Édith Piaf) and "Moon river" (by Henry Mancini), but even the ironic "Me gustas tú" (by Manu Chao). In 2007 he lent his voice to the DC-9 airliner in Pippo Pollina's opera "Ultimo volo" (""Last flight""), about the 1980 loss of Itavia Flight 870 in the Ustica massacre. In 2009 he published the single "La canzone della galassia", containing the cover of "The galaxy song" (taken from Monty Python's "The meaning of life"), sung  with the Sardinian-English group Mab. Since 1996 he participates in almost every Franco Battiato's tours: