Philosopher Giangiorgio Pasqualotto, one of Italy’s foremost interpreters of Eastern thought, has died in Padua at the age of 78. Born in Vicenza in 1946, Pasqualotto made Padua his home in the mid-1960s and spent decades teaching Aesthetics, Philosophy, and Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Padua.
In 1999, together with Adone Brandalise, he founded the Master’s program in Intercultural Studies and later contributed to the creation of the Master in Contemplative Studies.
Pasqualotto was among the first Italian philosophers to approach Buddhist and Taoist traditions from a strictly theoretical and aesthetic perspective, rather than a sociological or religious one. His works, including Il Tao della filosofia (1989) and Estetica del vuoto (1992), are considered classics in comparative philosophy.
His lifelong pursuit of an “intercultural philosophy” helped establish what many regard as the “Padua school of thought,” a distinctive space for dialogue between Western and Eastern traditions.