Alfonso Giordano

He practiced his profession in his hometown, and had inherited some Sulfur Mines from his father. Being in daily contact with the working class of the mines, he decided to provide them daily care and began to study mining hygiene at the University of Palermo. He eventually became the first Sicilian to obtain a lectureship in mining hygiene, and taught for over a decade at the University of Palermo.^[1] Following in the footsteps of Ramazzini (the renowned 18th-century physician from Carpi), he identified and denounced the skeletal deformities of the destitute “carusi,” that is, minors employed in the harsh and exhausting labor of sulfur mines. He discovered and described ankylostomiasis, a social disease characterized by severe anemia—often fatal if not diagnosed and treated in time—which miners contracted due to the habit of working barefoot in the mines.^[4] He also argued for, and attempted to document with the limited means available at the time, the existence among sulfur miners of a disease he called “theapneumoconiosis,” caused—similarly to what had been observed in coal mines—by the accumulation of particles of the yellow mineral in the lung tissue, often with fatal consequences. He was an advocate for legal regulations that, at the time, established limits on mining labor.^[5] He maintained an active scientific correspondence with the great Louis Pasteur, becoming his friend and, through his intervention, receiving an honorary degree in mining hygiene in Paris. He also served twice as Mayor of Lercara Friddi.^[1] After his death in Lercara on July 15, 1915, the miners—grateful for Giordano's tireless and selfless work—placed a plaque on his birthplace. Two roads were also dedicated to him in Lercara Friddi and in Palermo.^[1]

Giordano was married to Caterina Nicolosi on 14 December 1872 in the Church of Maria Santissima della Neve, Lercara Friddi. Several of his children and grandchildren followed in his footsteps: his grandson Alfonso (1910–1990), was a doctor and professor at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Another grandson, also named Alfonso (1928–2021), was a judge and presided over the Maxi Trial.^[6]

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