Abstract
This study analyzes the “fantastic stories” of Paolino di Pietro, a storyteller from
Militello in Val di Catania, as a case study in the social construction of memory. The paper
examines how local historiography is used as a “polemological” tool within a long-standing
jurisdictional conflict between rival parish-factions (nicolesi and marianesi). The author
argues that Zi' Paolino acts as a bricoleur of the past, manipulating historical topoi to assert
the chronological priority and ritual supremacy of his faction.
Keywords: Ethnography, Sicily, Local History, Social Memory, Historical Constructivism.