Giuseppe Paternò was born in 1923 in Palermo, Sicily, into a family so poor that he had to start working as a child and put off his dream of studying for decades.
He worked for 42 years on the Italian railways, but never lost his interest in books. In 2017, at the age of 94, he decided to enroll at the University of Palermo to study History and Philosophy.
In 2020, he earned his first degree with the highest grade. And he didn’t stop there: in 2022, at nearly 99, he completed a second university degree in Philosophy, again with honors.
“Age is no limit. If you are interested in knowledge, you keep going”, he said at the time.
Giuseppe died in November 2022, just a few months after achieving his last major academic goal, leaving behind a story that still reminds us it is never too late to go back to school.