Born in
Palermo, in 1734 he entered the Collegio Borbonico, run by Palermo's
Theatines. He was taught modern and ancient literature by abbot Jacoponi from Tuscany and in the college his favourite subject was Sicily's ancient, medieval and recent history. He and other scholars from the city planned a "Storia generale dell'Isola". In 1762 Torremuzza published "Le antiche iscrizioni di Palermo", describing ancient inscriptions which the city's senate had rediscovered in 1586 and which in 1716 were housed in the town hall. In 1753 he published the arcadian pastoral "Storia di Alesa" under the pseudonym "Selinunte Drogonteo", though his most famous works are
"Siciliae veteres nummi" and
Siciliae veterum inscriptionum nova collectio". In 1783 he became an associate of the
Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. He gave around 12,000 volumes to the Jesuits, which became the nucleus of what is now the
Biblioteca centrale della Regione Siciliana. He died in Palermo and is buried at the church of
San Domenico. == Main works ==