Giuseppe Paternó is proof you’re never too old to follow a dream.
Just six weeks shy of his 97th birthday, Mr Paternó fulfilled his lifelong dream of receiving a degree in history and philosophy from the University of Palermo. And he did it with honours!
Fabrizio Micari, chancellor of the University of Palermo, congratulated Mr Paternó on his near-perfect grade average, saying, “It’s an extraordinary, exceptional result for any young man.”
Mr Paternó was born in 1923, the first of seven children in a “very poor family”.
After finishing the Italian equivalent of primary school, Mr Paternó went straight into work and had a successful career which saw him spending most of his time working on the state railway.
Retirement was an opportunity for Mr Paternó to pursue his own interests, and in 2017 he decided to return to school to fulfill a lifelong goal of writing an autobiography.
Mr Paternó achieved that with his thesis on the city of Palermo, intertwining the city’s history with his own.
The University is keen for Paternó to continue his studies with a two-year’s Masters course, but he is not so sure.
“I have to confess that in this moment, I don’t know whether I would tackle it with the same spirit,” he said on Wednesday.
Not a bad effort – we think he’s definitely earned a bit of a break!
