Born in Padua 1952, Carlo Saccone studied Eastern Languages and
Literatures (Persian, Arabic, Pashto) at the University of
Venice, where he graduated in 1977, and Political
Sciences at the University of Padua, where he graduated in
1987. From 1993 to 2001 he was a professor of Islamic
Culture at the ISR (Istituto di Scienze Religiose) of Trento
and lived mostly in Germany; since 1999 he has been a professor of
History of Islamic Countries at the University of
Padua; since 2002 he has been a researcher, and since
september 2014 Associate Professor, in Persian language
and literature at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and
Literatures of the University of Bologna.
He travelled in Middle East countries visiting several times
Palestine, Turkey, Jordan, Maroc, Syria, Iran, Uzbekistan, Algeria,
Afghanistan, and also Pakistan, India, Nepal and
Ceylon.
He is mostly interested in the Persian medieval literature,
especially in the interaction between medieval poetry and religious
(mystical) themes.
Fields of research: Persian mystical poetry; Persian treatises
on Sufism (tasawwuf. ‘irfan); Persian romance, the
Koran and the Biblical tradition; geopolitical problems of modern
Islam.
-Since 1989 he has been writing reviews of books on Islamic
subjects in “Studia Patavina. Rivista di Scienze Religiose”,
published by the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy.
-Since the late 90ies he has been writing articles on
geopolitical problems in various magazines and mostly in “QT Questo
Trentino (web site with archive: www.questotrentino.it)
-Since 2002 researcher in Persian language and literature at the Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature Straniere, University of Bologna
-Since 2008 he has been the editor of “Quaderni di Studi
Indo-Mediterranei” (QSIM), a review on religious-historical,
literary, artistic subjects with a cross-cultural approach. Web
site: http://www2.lingue.unibo.it/studi%20indo%2Dmediterranei/.
-Since march 2011 he has been the editor of the new e-archive
"Archivi di Studi Indo-Mediterranei" (ASIM). with a larger range of
topics (including geo-political problems), web site: www.archivindomed.altervista.otg
-Since 2012 he has been coordinator of Centro Essad Bey (CEB) which promotes the two series: "Bactriana. Collana di Studi Indo-Mediterranei" and "Kharabat, Collana di letterature orientali"
- since 2014 associate professor in "Lingua e letteratura persiana" at Dipartmento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne (LILEC) of University of Bologna
-in 2014 he won the Book World Prize (Ketab-e sal-e jahani) for translating into italian the works by Hafez of Shiraz (3 volumes, published by Carocci Roma 2003-2011)
-Since 2015 member of the Managing Board of the Research Center on "Filologia e Medievistica Indo-Mediterranea" (FIMIM)
-Since 2016 member of the scientific committee of "Quaderni di Filologia Romanza" (QFR) eds. Andrea Fassò e Francesco Benozzo
-In 2017 he was awarded the prize for "Mediterranean Culture" - Translation Section, awarded by the CARICAL Foundation
-in 2018 he was awarded the prize for Extraordinary Career Award for translation by theMinistero dei Beni Culturali
-in 2018 founder with Nahid Norozi (FIMIM) of the internationa project IDA (Immagini e Deformazioni dell'Altro), in collaboration with some distinguished scholars and researchers of Indo-Mediterranean Universities (Istanbul, Kairo, Tehran, Blida, Rabat, Yerevan, Sarajevo, Baku)
Member of the SIE Societas Iranologia Europaea 2018-2020
since 2019 he has been a member of the scientific committee of QFR - Quaderni di Filologia Romanza directed by Andrea Fassò and Francesco Benozzo, and of the series Biblioteca Medievale, directed by Mario Mancini
since 2020 he has been a member of the scientific committee of the "Ferdows" series of WriteUp Edizioni, directed by Nahid Norozi
since 2020 he has been a member of the scientific committee of the series "Biblioteca Medevale", Edizioni Carocci, directed by Mario Mancini
since 2021 he has been a member of the scientific committee of the series "Il cavaliere del leone" by Edizioni dell'Orso, directed by Andrea Fassò.
Since 2021 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the Iranian magazine Adabiyyat-e 'Erfani (Mystical Literature), directed by Prof. Mayam Hoseini, of Al-Zahra University in Tehran.
Since 2021 he has been a member of the Advisory Board of the "Trancultural Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences” (TJHSS), pubblicata al Cairo dalla BUC – Badr University of Cairo e diretta da Hussein Mahmoud Hamouda
He is in good health, apart from an accentuated myopia.