Frederick II, the Baptized Sultan of Sicily, Bridge-maker between Italian and Arab culture

Between 1220 and 1250, Lucera in Puglia, was the cultural heart not only of the Holy Roman Empire but also of the Italian peninsula, of Sicily and the Middle East. Its Emperor and King was Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The languages spoken at his court were Arabic, French, Greek, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin and Sicilian. Frederick transferred to Naples the oldest Western School, the Ninth Century Scuola Medica Salernitana, founding the current Università di Napoli in 1224. Between 1230 and 1250, he developed the poetic Scuola Siciliana, where, the Emperor, a poet himself, preceded Dante’s popular eloquence. This took place while the Arabic culture, philosophy and politics was studied and implemented by this world’s wonder