Italian irredentism in Malta
Encyclopedia
Italian irredentism in Malta refers to past support in Malta
for Italian
territorial claims
on the islands. It is therefore not be confused with Italophilia
. Although Malta
had ceased to be part of the Kingdom of Sicily
since 1814 following the Treaty of Paris
, Italian irredentism in Malta was only of some significance during the Italian Fascist era
.
fortunes—political, economic, religious, cultural—were closely tied with Sicily's
. Successive waves of immigration from Sicily and Italy strengthened these ties and increased the demographic
similarity. Italian
was Malta's language of administration, law, contracts and public records, Malta's culture
was similar to Italy's
, Malta's nobility was originally composed of Italian families who had moved to Malta mainly in the 13th century and the Maltese Catholic Church was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Palermo
.
There were subtle differences, however. In the early 15th century Malta was incorporated directly into the Sicilian crown following an uprising which led to the abolishment of the County of Malta. Domestic governance was thus left to the Università and the Popular Council, early forms of representative local government. The Maltese language, the creation of the Diocese of Malta as well as the granting of Malta to the Knights Hospitaller
in 1530 were developments which started to give a distinct character to Maltese culture and history.
Following a brief French occupation (1798–1800) the British took military control of Malta even though it was still formally part of the Kingdom of Sicily
. The initial intention, expressed in the Treaty of Amiens
was to re-establish the status quo ante but thanks to of British interests in the Mediterranean Malta became a British Crown Colony
through the Treaty of Paris
.
In 1878 a Royal Commission (the Rowsell-Julyan-Keenan Commission) recommended in its report the Anglicisation
of the educational and judicial systems. While the judicial system remained predominantly Italian until the 20th century, teaching of the English language
started to be enforced in State schools at the expense of Italian. In 1911, English overtook Italian as the secondary language after Maltese, spoken by 13.1% of the population compared to 11.5% for Italian.
The Royal Commission's report also had significant political impact. Supporters and opponents organised themselves into a Reform and Anti-Reform parties which, apart from being the forerunners of the present day two main political parties in Malta, assumed respectively the anglophile and italophile imprint (and also, subsequently, pro-colonial and anti-colonial policies) that were to characterise them for decades to come.
The battle, however, was still being fought in largely cultural terms, as the "Language Question" on the role of Italian in education. This led to the revoking (the second) of the Maltese Constitution in 1934 over the Government's budgetary vote for the teaching of Italian in elementary schools. Italian was eventually dropped from official language status in Malta in 1934, its place being taken by Maltese. Italian ceased to be taught at all levels of education and the language of instruction at the University of Malta
and the Law Courts. When Italy
entered the war on the side of the Axis powers
and aerial bombardments of Malta began, what little interest in Italian irredentism that existed in Malta was lost. The colonial authorities took precautions: they interned and eventually deported to Uganda 49 italophile Maltese including the leader of the Nationalist Party
, Enrico Mizzi
.
A number of Maltese living in Italy participated in fascist organizations and joined the Italian military forces during World War II
. Among them were Carmelo Borg Pisani, Antonio Cortis, Paolo Frendo, Ivo Leone Ganado, Roberto Mallia, Manuele Mizzi, Antonio Vassallo, Joe d’Ancona and Carlo Liberto. Carmelo Borġ Pisani
attempted to enter Malta during the war, was captured and executed as a spy in 1942.
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
for Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
territorial claims
Territorial dispute
A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states or over the possession or control of land by a new state and occupying power after it has conquered the land from a former state no longer currently recognized by the new state.-Context and...
on the islands. It is therefore not be confused with Italophilia
Italophilia
Italophilia is the admiration, general appreciation or love of Italy, its culture, society, arts and people. The term is used in two basic contexts: in international politics and in cultural context. "Italophilia", "Italophile", and "Italophilic" are the terms used to denote pro-Italian sentiments,...
. Although Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
had ceased to be part of the Kingdom of Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
since 1814 following the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1814)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...
, Italian irredentism in Malta was only of some significance during the Italian Fascist era
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
.
Italy and Malta before 1814
Until the end of the 18th century Malta'sHistory of Malta
Malta has been inhabited since it was settled around 5200 BC from Sicily. It was settled by the Phoenicians and later the Greeks who named the island Μελίτη meaning "honey sweet" in reference to Malta's endemic variety of bee.-B.C.:*5000 First Human settlers...
fortunes—political, economic, religious, cultural—were closely tied with Sicily's
History of Sicily
The history of Sicily has seen Sicily usually controlled by greater powers—Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Islamic, Norman, Hohenstaufen, Catalan, Spaniard—but also experiencing short periods of independence, as under the Greeks and later as the Emirate then Kingdom of Sicily...
. Successive waves of immigration from Sicily and Italy strengthened these ties and increased the demographic
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
similarity. Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
was Malta's language of administration, law, contracts and public records, Malta's culture
Culture of Malta
The culture of Malta is the culture of the Maltese islanders and reflects various societies that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the nations that ruled Malta for long periods of time prior...
was similar to Italy's
Culture of Italy
From antiquity until the 16th century, Italy was at the centre of Western culture, fulcrum or origin of the Etruscan civilization, Ancient Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, Humanism and the Renaissance....
, Malta's nobility was originally composed of Italian families who had moved to Malta mainly in the 13th century and the Maltese Catholic Church was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Palermo
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo was founded as the Diocese of Palermo in the 1st Century but was raised to the level of an archdiocese in the 11th century...
.
There were subtle differences, however. In the early 15th century Malta was incorporated directly into the Sicilian crown following an uprising which led to the abolishment of the County of Malta. Domestic governance was thus left to the Università and the Popular Council, early forms of representative local government. The Maltese language, the creation of the Diocese of Malta as well as the granting of Malta to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
in 1530 were developments which started to give a distinct character to Maltese culture and history.
Following a brief French occupation (1798–1800) the British took military control of Malta even though it was still formally part of the Kingdom of Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
. The initial intention, expressed in the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
was to re-establish the status quo ante but thanks to of British interests in the Mediterranean Malta became a British Crown Colony
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
through the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1814)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...
.
Italian culture in Malta between 1814 and the Fascist era
Cultural changes were few even after 1814. In 1842, all literate Maltese learned Italian while only 4.5% could read, write and speak English.In 1878 a Royal Commission (the Rowsell-Julyan-Keenan Commission) recommended in its report the Anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
of the educational and judicial systems. While the judicial system remained predominantly Italian until the 20th century, teaching of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
started to be enforced in State schools at the expense of Italian. In 1911, English overtook Italian as the secondary language after Maltese, spoken by 13.1% of the population compared to 11.5% for Italian.
The Royal Commission's report also had significant political impact. Supporters and opponents organised themselves into a Reform and Anti-Reform parties which, apart from being the forerunners of the present day two main political parties in Malta, assumed respectively the anglophile and italophile imprint (and also, subsequently, pro-colonial and anti-colonial policies) that were to characterise them for decades to come.
The Fascist Era and World War II
The Fascists invested heavily in promoting Italian culture in Malta. They were making overtures to a minority who not only loved Italy's language but also saw Malta as a geographical extension of the Italian mainland. Malta was described as "the extreme end of Italian soil" (Senator Caruana Gatto who represented the nobility in the Maltese in 1923).The battle, however, was still being fought in largely cultural terms, as the "Language Question" on the role of Italian in education. This led to the revoking (the second) of the Maltese Constitution in 1934 over the Government's budgetary vote for the teaching of Italian in elementary schools. Italian was eventually dropped from official language status in Malta in 1934, its place being taken by Maltese. Italian ceased to be taught at all levels of education and the language of instruction at the University of Malta
University of Malta
The University of Malta is the highest educational institution in Malta Europe and is one of the most respected universities in Europe. The University offers undergraduate Bachelor's Degrees, postgraduate Master's Degrees and postgraduate Doctorates .-History:The University of Malta was founded in...
and the Law Courts. When Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
entered the war on the side of the Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and aerial bombardments of Malta began, what little interest in Italian irredentism that existed in Malta was lost. The colonial authorities took precautions: they interned and eventually deported to Uganda 49 italophile Maltese including the leader of the Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party (Malta)
The Nationalist Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Labour Party. It was founded by Fortunato Mizzi in 1880 as the Anti-Reform Party, opposing taxation decreed by the British colonial authorities and measures to Anglicise the educational and the...
, Enrico Mizzi
Enrico Mizzi
Enrico "Nerik" Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Nationalist Party and Prime Minister of Malta....
.
A number of Maltese living in Italy participated in fascist organizations and joined the Italian military forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Among them were Carmelo Borg Pisani, Antonio Cortis, Paolo Frendo, Ivo Leone Ganado, Roberto Mallia, Manuele Mizzi, Antonio Vassallo, Joe d’Ancona and Carlo Liberto. Carmelo Borġ Pisani
Carmelo Borg Pisani
Carmelo Borg Pisani was a Maltese-born Italian Fascist who was found guilty by a Maltese war tribunal established by the Government under British rule and executed for treason against His Majesty's Government....
attempted to enter Malta during the war, was captured and executed as a spy in 1942.
After World War II
Since World War II there have been no calls for Italian irredentism in Malta.See also
- Carmelo Borg PisaniCarmelo Borg PisaniCarmelo Borg Pisani was a Maltese-born Italian Fascist who was found guilty by a Maltese war tribunal established by the Government under British rule and executed for treason against His Majesty's Government....
- Enrico MizziEnrico MizziEnrico "Nerik" Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Nationalist Party and Prime Minister of Malta....
- Italia irredentaItalia irredentaItalian irredentism was an Italian Irredentist movement that aimed at the unification of all ethnically Italian peoples....
- Maltese languageMaltese languageMaltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...