Rosario Livatino

Rosario Livatino
it's just because...

"Brave judge, peacemaker.

With commitment and a sense of duty

he fought against corruption by choosing the path of Good"

Rosario Angelo Livatino was an Italian magistrate, a courageous judge who fought hard against the mafia and consecrated his life to justice. Livatino was born in Canicattì on October 3, 1952, from his father Vincenzo, who graduated in law and retired from the municipal tax office, and from his mother Rosalia Corbo. Saro, as he was affectionately called by his family, as a boy used to love spending the afternoons playing cards with his grandparents. Despite his skill and his talent, which Rosario did not like to boast, he always offerred his help everyone and listend to the opinions of others. At school they nicknamed him "Centunanno", due to his reflective character as an old wiseman.

After attending the Liceo Classico from 1966 to 1971, Rosario graduated in Law at the University of Palermo on July 9, 1975 at the age of 22 with full marks and honors.

He also earned a second degree in political science. At a very young age, he entered the world of work by winning the competition for probationary deputy director, at the registered office of the Agrigento Registry, where he remained from 1 December 1977 to 17 July 1978.

He successfully participated in the competition of the Judiciary and, after passing it, he worked in Caltanissetta as a judicial auditor, then moving on to the Court of Agrigento. For a decade, from 29 September '79 to 20 August '89, he worked as Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic, dealing with the most delicate anti-mafia investigations, common crime, and the investigation known as the "Sicilian Tangentopoli". Rosario Livatino served at the Court of Agrigento as a side judge.

In 1988 Saro got engaged to a girl from a town in the Agrigento area, but the love affair with the notary lasted only a year. Later, Rosario dated 2 other girls Vincenzina and Dina, but he never established a lasting emotional bond because he said he did not want to leave a widow and orphans.

Rosario Livatino was the victim of a mafia ambush, which took place on the morning of 21 September 1990, along the SS 640 Agrigento-Caltanissetta, in Contrada San Benedetto, while without a police escort with his own car he was going to the Court. The judge's car was joined by a Fiat Uno and a motorcycle. Gaetano Puzzangaro and Giovanni Avarello were on board the car , Domenico Pace and Paolo Amicowere on the motorbike . The judge was killed by several gunshots, after having pronounced his last words to his executioners: "What have I done to you, picciotti?".

Thanks to the eyewitness Piero Ivano Nava, the members of the homicidal commando and the instigators of the Stidda were identified for his death, all of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment.

After the murder of judge Livatino, the D.I.A. (Antimafia Investigation Department) and the D.N.A. (National Anti-Mafia Directorate )were instituted. Livatino is revered as a blessed and martyr by the Catholic Church. In Sicily the words of the bishops still resound, in the message written on the occasion of the beatification, which define "Livatino one of us, raised in a very common family of ours and in one of our cities, where he breathed the scent of dignity and where he learned the sense of duty, the value of honesty and the audacity of responsibility ". Pope Francis recalled Judge Livatino as "an example for all those who work in the field of law".

Bibliographic reference: “Don't call him a kid” by Marco Pappalardo, with illustrations by Roberto Lauciello, Edizioni Paoline 2021.

Class 3A I.C. "A. De Gasperi" - Lower secondary school - Marsala