Born in Bagheria, Italy into a merchant's family, after having taken part in World War I Buttitta joined the Italian Socialist Party and around this time started to write poetry in Sicilian.

Soon after, Buttitta relocated to Milan, where he achieved some success in the commercial world while continuing to pursue his passion for literature.

Due to his political leanings, he had to leave Milan during World War II; after which he joined the Resistance, was jailed by the fascists, and narrowly avoided the death penalty, before returning to Milan, where he spent time with Sicilian intellectuals such as Elio Vittorini, Salvatore Quasimodo and Renato Guttuso.

This was especially the case with his nostalgia for his homeland, but there are also more socially-oriented themes, in particular, protests against the social situation of Italy and Sicily, such as A stragi di Purtedda (1947, about Salvatore Giuliano and the Portella della Ginestra massacre), and Lamentu per la morte di Turiddu Carnevale (1956, about Salvatore Carnevale - a Sicilian trade unionist from Sciara who was killed by the Mafia on 16 May 1955 - and his mother Francesca Serio).

[1] In 1972 Buttitta won the Viareggio Prize, for the volume Io faccio il poeta (I am a poet).

Un populu diventa poviru e servu quannu ci arrubbanu a lingua addutata di patri: è persu pi sempri.