David Agius Muscat:Il-Kanonku Fortunato Panzavecchia 1797-1850 – Raġel ta’ Kultura u Qaddej tal-Patrija 
Horizons, 2019

Thanks to the indefatigable work of David Agius Muscat, Maltese studies aficionados have been regaled with a wealth of hitherto inaccessible manuscript sources and other rare materials related to the socio-linguistic-cultural situation of our country in the first half of the 19th century.

In this book Canon Fortunato Panzavecchia (1797-1850) – a man of culture and a veritable patriot (Il-Kanonku Fortunato Panzavecchia 1797-1850 – Raġel ta’ Kultura u Qaddej tal-Patrija), the author covers the life, manuscripts and publications of Canon Fortunato Panzavecchia.

He has consulted over 40,000 manuscript pages (200,000 at page xxxii is a slip of the pen) produced by Fortunato Panzavecchia, the cousin of the founder of the Nationalist Party, Mons. Ignazio Panzavecchia. These are to be found in the Fondo Panzavecchia at the Cathedral Museum in Mdina.

Apart from this wealth of manuscript materials, Agius Muscat has also examined various rare newspapers which are to be found both in Malta and abroad. The end result is a 360-page volume which provides the reader with a wealth of information concerning not only the history of the Maltese language, but also the educational situation on our island in the first half of the century, together with a rich array of other useful insights into the historical situation of the time.

Fortunato Panzavecchia was a multifaceted personality. Apart from being a priest and a lawyer he was a foremost educationalist.

He was appointed president of the Normal Schools in Cottonera in 1834 and was instrumental in the setting up of these schools in the area.

In 1844 he was appointed the first director of the Government primary schools in Malta and Gozo with the intent to inspect them and make a report on their state.

Panzavecchia’s interests were not only limited to the educational field. In his unfinished manuscript work Dizionario Enciclopedico, he collected in strict alphabetical order information and books on a variety of subjects about world issues, Maltese issues and even his own issues. The hundreds of volumes which made up his private library concerned such varied topics as history, geography, physics, literature, rhetoric and Christology. 

Dead leaves collected and classified by Panzavecchia (Arkivju tal-Katidral, Pan 105, f. 38 v)

One precious feature of this Dizionario is the collection of idioms and anecdotes which Panzavecchia jotted down in the course of his work and studies. These concerned, among others, the topics of confession, women, inheritance, ignorance and memory. Another characteristic is linked to the Maltese language, since he transcribed various jokes in Maltese, as well as proverbs, idioms and Maltese għana. 

While lauding the many people who merited his praise, he also made up a list of those he considered to be his enemies

Apart from a number of poems in Latin and Italian, his autobiographical notes bring out the human (and fallible!) aspect of the man of letters. Basically, while lauding the many people who merited his praise, he also made up a list of those he considered to be his enemies.Is it just a coincidence that most of his esteemed friends were lay people, while the absolute majority of those he considered to be his enemies were religious colleagues?

Fortunato Panzavecchia

The Panzavecchia collection is important also because it sheds light on the history of  Maltese newspapers. Until recently, the only two surviving issues of the newspaper Brighella (1838), which are to be found at the Vatican and in London (the ones at the National Library have disappeared!) have been always attributed to Dun Ġużepp Zammit, alias Brighella. However, the documentation in the Panzavecchia collection includes the manuscript versions of these two issues. We can therefore now safely conclude that the 1838 Brighella publications are indeed the work of Panzavecchia.

Panzavecchia actually started producing newspapers before newspapers were regularly published in Malta. His two first known ‘newspapers’, which exist only in manuscript form, are Il Gazzettiere and Il Notiziere.

The first one, written in 1819, is made up mainly of international news, gleaned from foreign newspapers, such as The Times, Public Ledger and Il Giornale di Sicilia.

The second one, composed of 23 issues written between 1830 and 1834, supplemented the articles on foreign events with others which featured articles of Maltese interest, concerning political and cultural events, together with the biographies of famous Maltese people, such as Giorgio Fiteni, Cleardo Naudi, Vincenzo de Domenico and Federico Muscat.

Djarju

Apart from actually contributing to real published newspapers, such as Lo Spettatore Imparziale (1838) and L’Omnibus di Malta (1845), Panzavecchia was also author of a book on the history of Malta L’Ultimo Periodo (1845), legal publications and his various grammars of the Italian, English and Maltese languages, namely Elementi di Grammatica Italiana (1844), Raccolta di Regole Necessarie Riguardanti lo Studio della Lingua Inglese (1845) and the Grammatica della Lingua Maltese (1845).

Agius Muscat’s work constitutes an important contribution to the field of Maltese studies and should be a ‘must’ addition to all those interested in Melitensia.

With regards to a number of rare Maltese publications which the author refers to, the author acknowledges the help provided by, among others, Prof. William Zammit and Dr Albert Ganado, to whom many scholars of Melitensia remain always grateful for their generosity in granting access to their private collections of rare Maltese materials.