Agostino Cilardo
Agostino Cilardo, (San Prisco, 19 August 1947 – San Prisco, 15 July 2017) was an Italian professor, Arabist and specialist in islamic studies. He was a professor at the University of Naples "L'Orientale". He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Arabic-Islamic and Mediterranean Studies since November 2006 in Political Science for the Near and Middle East (1974) and Islamic Studies (1981). His career began as a lecturer at the University of Naples "L'Orientale", receiving three times the award for his scientific activity at the I.U.O.; four scholarships by the Egyptian government, a scholarship by the Centro  per le Relazioni Italo Arabe (Rome), and a scholarship by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Rome). At the beginning of his career he also worked as lecturer at the University of Bari in the Faculties of Economics and of Foreign Languages and Literatures. In 1993 he completed a four-year course of theology at the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences of Capua (Caserta). In 1990 he was appointed as a teacher of Islamic law at the Faculty of Political Sciences (I.U.O., Naples); in 1992 he became associate professor of Juridical and Social Institutions of the Muslim World at the School  of Islamic Studies. In 2005 he became full professor of History and Institutions of the Muslim World. He was editor of "Studi Magrebini" from 2003, and editor of the series "Arab-Islamic Culture" (Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Naples) since 2011.