Franco Salvo maestro di democrazia nella Sicilia del secondo dopoguerra

Franco Salvo (1916-1983), professor of history and philosophy at the high school Umberto I of Palermo immediately after the war, was a «laical teacher» committed to train young people to the values of democracy. He was a passionate scholar of moral philosophy and an historian conceiving his teaching as a laical mission directed to train the new generations at the responsibility of freedom and at the founding principles of the Constitution. As a matter of fact during his lectures he gave wide space to civic education taught within an historical perspective, which he considered the most appropriate to address the issue of human rights. Its method of education was aimed to strengthen a critical mentality within a respectful attitude for all beliefs, because «only in dialectical confrontation the various cultural perspective can reveal their limits and justify their worth». With its «enlightening discretion» as authoritative educator, but never authoritarian, Salvo was a representative figure in Palermo School during the years after World War II, «more than a teacher he was a master for education and for life». In the years of student protests he was a point of reference for young people, forming their consciences for reflection and responsibility of their own freedom, for social and political commitment so that they will be able to exercise control over the political authorities through active participation.