Preface

Agata Di Stefano (1) & Rosanna Maniscalco (1)
(1) Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali - Sezione di Scienze della Terra, Università di Catania, C.so Italia 57, 95129 Catania, Italy.

This issue of the Italian Journal of Geosciences is dedicated to the memory of Professor Fabio Lentini, a profound and passionate geologist who devoted his life to research and fieldwork, leaving, as remarkable resource for future stu- dents and geologists, a large amount of maps and scientific papers. Fabio Lentini was born in Palermo on November 11th 1938. He got his degree in Geology at the University of Rome La Sapienza, disciple of Professor Leone Ogniben, became Full Professor of Geology at the University of Catania in 1984, and retired in November 2010. Since the ‘70s, he taught Paleontology, Stratigraphy, Geology, Geological Mapping. His teaching skills were particularly brilliant in the field, thanks to his great ability to communicate. He was convivial, friendly, and empathic, a passionate maestro for his students and research collaborators. Fabio was also a multifaceted scientist, first paleontologist and stratigrapher, later turned to structural geology and geodynamics. His research was especially focused on field geology, with a particular fondness for geological mapping, which started at the onset of his career and continued, in the frame of the CARG project, throughout his life. He had a deep knowledge of regional geology, equally sharing his passion between Sicily, the Southern Apennines and the Central Mediterranean. Among its production some milestone of the Italian geology are the Geological Map of the Hyblean Mountains (SE Sicily), in collaboration with his friend and colleague Professor Mario Grasso, the Geological Map of the Peloritani Mountains (NE Sicily), and of the Agri River Basin (Basilicata region). Worth of mention are also his papers on the geo- dynamic synthesis of the Central Mediterranean carried out in the frame of the CROP project. His last work, the result of decades of research mapping, is the "Geological map of Sicily" at 1:250.000 scale, presented in 2016, 130 years after the first edition published by Baldacci in 1886. Fabio Lentini lives in the memories of his disciples and colleagues not only for his deep knowledge of Southern Apen- nines and Sicilian geology but also for the passion and professionalism he devoted to his job.