The Maltese migrants of Vittoria and Scoglitti in Sicily

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As expected, some of the Maltese in Vittoria and Scoglitti hailed from the Maltese harbour towns. In some cases, the acts indicated whether they were from Valletta or Bormla. Among the Maltese surnames that one comes across, one finds Abela, Attard, Borg, Fenech, quite an impressive number of Camilleri, Cassar, Lanzon, Grech,

Micallef, Schembri and Vella.

On Wednesday, 24th October, I attended a book launch at University. The book in question is Arnold Cassola’s work and the title says it all: I

(1628-1848). Written in Italian, the author talks about the Maltese community in Vittoria and Scoglitti.

B oth Vittoria and Scoglitti are small towns in the South of Sicily, whose inhabitants made a living off the land and fishing. Yet, during the period mentioned, Vittoria expanded while nearby towns, such as Caltagirone, contracted in importance.

Cassola has taken on the painstaking task of looking at every entry in the baptismal, marriage and death registers of Vittoria’s Santa Maria delle Grazie parish which was rebuilt following the catastrophic earthquake of

1693. Cassola has recorded all those individuals who either had a Maltese surname or were declared as being Maltese, despite the fact that their surnames never featured in Malta’s church records.

As expected, some of the Maltese in Vittoria and Scoglitti hailed from the Maltese harbour towns. In some cases, the acts indicated whether they were from Valletta or Bormla. Among the Maltese surnames that one comes across, one finds Abela, Attard, Borg, Fenech, quite an impressive number of Camilleri, Cassar, Lanzon, Grech, Micallef, Schembri and Vella. Then there are a number of Italian surnames, whose surname holder was given as Maltese.

The period under study is a rather extensive one; ranging from the years 1628 until 1846. A simple count of these registers shows the different trends along the centuries of this movement to Sicily. In terms of crude numbers, Maltese migration was stronger in the last 46 years of the eighteenth century than in the first 46 years of the nineteenth century.

If one continues to analyse these entries in terms of number, the highest number of Maltese that are found registered in the acts are between 1800 and 1815, that is, during the turbulent times of the Napoleonic wars.

Once Malta became a definitive English colony, the migration to Vittoria and Scoglitti was less strong. The Napoleonic Wars, which for the people of the time appeared as one prolonged war to the extent that this period started to be known as the period of the Great War, had left a negative effect on Malta. It forced a number of Maltese to leave Malta in search of a better life in Sicily.

Incidentally, in this period, Sicily was being practically ruled by the British. Once the Bourbons regained control of Sicily, they fell out of love with the British and accused the latter of supporting the Liberal movement in Sicily. This had a negative effect on the migration of Maltese to Sicily.

Then, there is the issue of surnames. How certain is it that certain surnames predominate over others? One finds, in Vittoria, the presence of the most common Maltese surname, that of Borg. Even Camilleri, which is extremely common in Malta till today, is found in Vittoria.

The acts themselves do not permit a profound demographic analysis, as they do not always give parental relationships that can help better identify the person concerned. But it seems that it was the presence of a relative in Vittoria which attracted Maltese migrants to Vittoria and Scoglitti. Others went there on business. Vittoria and Scoglitti, Cassola reminds us, exported wine and agricultural products to Malta. Ironically, contemporary Malta is once again importing its fruits and vegetables from this area.

There are even references to Maltese who became victims of crime. There were at least two murders that occurred in the same quarter of Vittoria. But there were also Maltese who died as paupers and others killed in the fields.

Cassola speaks also about Maltese who got married in Vittoria. These were few. He also discusses the names of Maltese priests that one comes across in the parish register of the church of San Giovanni Battista in Scoglitti.

The book launch was preceded by an erudite analysis by the head of the department of Maltese Bernard Micallef, Professor Joseph Brincat, who needs no introduction and Adrian Grima. Micallef focused on the migratory flows, as they emerge from this book. He pointed out a number of interesting historical anecdotes that one finds in these acts and how they can help formulate a framework of the Maltese presence in Vittoria.

Brincat gave an extremely interesting presentation about how Maltese surnames were written in Vittoria and explained why, from a linguistic point of view, they did not follow the Maltese format and presentation. The Italian or Sicilian linguistic and phonological aspects conditioned the pronunciation and the written format of Maltese surnames, in particular, if they were of Semitic origins. But even surnames of Romance or better, Italian origins, were not immune to linguistic variations.

Adrian Grima took up the gauntlet and discussed these entries within the wider literary criticism of contemporary theories of identity. As already indicated, the book covers a rather extensive period; from 1628 to 1846. It is a period where historically, we already start to find references in our documents about ‘la natione maltese’. I am giving the term as it used to be written in seventeenth-century documentation. But what constituted the Maltese nation, evolved between the seventeenth century and the nineteenth century. In between, Europe was exposed to the theories of the Enlightenment. These theories have changed the way Europeans continued to identify themselves. Nationalism is a direct reaction of the Enlightenment. Our concept of identity is very well grounded in the Romantic and Nationalistic spirit of the nineteenth century. Identity became more and more linked to the place of birth.

These records prove that this was not the case for the earlier periods. As indicated, among the individuals listed as Maltese, there were those whose surnames rarely or never featured in Malta’s parish records. But for the people of Vittoria they were Maltese.

What does this mean in terms of identity? It means that in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, identity was more fluid than it is today. It was not calculated on birth or place of birth. It was gauged according to residence. Thus, if a Sicilian migrated to Malta, and decided to make Malta his home, he was automatically considered Maltese. Immigration to Malta created the concept of a permanent settlement. On this basis, migrants started to be considered Maltese. The new migrant identity would be further enhanced if he ended up marrying in Malta.

Most of those individuals, with non-endogenous surnames, are in the majority found in the Burial Acts. These persons must have returned to Sicily, presumably, to visit someone in their home country, or to conduct business there, and died in Vittoria or Scoglitti. In some cases, it was registered that they died because they went to visit a relative. In other cases, these deaths occurred accidentally as they were in transit, going through this town either to reach Ragusa or Licata to reach Malta or else to reach some other place in

Sicily.

But these registers reveal also another important characteristic that was part and parcel of migration. The list is predominantly male. It is a constant historical fact that males migrate more than females. Yet, this study will definitely help to remove the erroneous perception that is starting to build up in Malta since Maltese emigration has practically ceased after the 1990s - that both emigration or immigration was a phenomenon of post-war years.

This book is not only of interest to those studying the history of Maltese migration. It is also a tool for those conducting genealogical research. On my part, this book will definitely go into the bibliography for my courses of study in the history of Maltese demography and also the other course on genealogical research.