Atanasiu di Iaci

Who is Atanasiu di Iaci?

Frate Atanasiu di Iaci or Athanasiu da Jaci was a Benedictine monk and historiographer from Aci. He wrote Vinuta di lu re Iapicu in Catania, a Sicilian chronicle of the arrival and stay of James I in Catania in May 1287. He may also be the author of another Sicilian history, Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia, written circa 1290, by an anonymous of Messina. Vincenzo di Giovanni suggested that Atanasiu was of Saracen ancestry.

Vincenzo de Gaetano first expressed doubt about the authenticity of the Vinuta and the historicity of Atanasiu. The Vinuta appears in no earlier work than Pietro Carrera, Delle memorie historiche della città di Cantania. He claimed to have found it in a manuscript of San Nicolò l'Arena, now lost. It was first published by the Pietro Bentivegna of Palermo in their Opuscoli di autori Siciliani. Its authorship was also treated by Antonio Mongitore Biblioteca Sicula. The Vinuta was accepted as authentic by Enrico Sicardi for his 1917 edition. Kenneth Setton follows him, but notes that though it sometimes adds valuable details to the history of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, it is frequently untrustworthy. Giulio Bertoni considered it authentic, pointing to the antiquity of its language. If authentic, the Vinuta is an important source for the influence of the Italian languages on Sicilian.