Forgerer

For some years at the end of the eighteenth century, Valletta-born Giuseppe Vella enjoyed a luminous fame all over Europe. Labelled as 'master forgerer', Vella is reputed to have been among the most talented and influential personalities in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the end of the 18th century.

The fourth and youngest child of the clockmaker Gaetano Vella from Valletta, who was also custodian of the clocks in the conventual church of the Order, and the Grandmaster's palace in Valletta.

Vella studied in the convent at the Dominican College of Study in Valletta, receiving theological education. In 1763 Vella passed the examinations as a priest and was received in the Order of St. John as cappellano dell'obbidienza.

Vella first travelled to Rome in 1780 and some months later went to Palermo, where he was made Abbot of the Monastery of San Martino delle Scale.

There is no documented proof that Vella had already developed an interest in the Oriental languages in his youth, but it was possible that Vella received some lessons of Arabic from Don Giuseppe Calleja who in 1769 was appointed at the newly-founded university in Malta. Most probably, Vella started his studying of Arabic language while in Palermo by the scholar from Hamburg, Johann Heinrich Bartels.

In 1782 Vella met the ambassador of Morocco, who was taken by the authorities on a tour to the famous monastery of S. Martino. Vella was requested to act as a translator on this tour. Vella managed to make people believe that he was knowledgeable about the old Arabic kufic dialect. Soon he was commissioned by the archbishop of Palermo, Airoldi, to carry out a translation of this manuscript.  Once flattered by the success of his new 'scholarly' career, Vella managed to find more 'very important' documents on the medieval history of Sicily foremost among which the Codice Normanno.

The Archbishop of Palermo did his best to please his new friend. He made Vella, Abate of S. Pancrazio, appointed him professor of Arabic at the local university and bestowed on him a villa in Palermo. The most renowned historians and scholars of the time interested themselves in the work of Vella. Also the Pope congratulated Vella.

In 1789 the Codice diplomatico di Sicilia sotto il governo degli Arabi, appeared in Palermo in a prestigious publication. This was soon translated into German. In 1793 another book of Vella was published in Palermo - Libro del consiglio di Egitto.

Before publishing these books, Vella claimed to be in possession of a medieval Arabic translation of seventeen lost books of Livy, namely the books 60 to 77. This created maximum sensation, and Vella never related how the lost books of Livy had come into his possession.

Vella was not without enemies and one of his worst opponents was the Arabist Rosario Gregorio who was left out when Vella had got the professorship for Arabic at Palermo university. Other scholars, also from abroad, got suspicious about the authenticity of Vella's discoveries.  Various experts from Italy, Germany, Austria and other European cities showed their doubt and when later the manuscripts were examined by them, they were found to be forged. Among these experts, the Austrian Oriental scholar and linguist, Joseph Hager, in 1799 published an entire book on Vella's forgeries and fake translations. It was called Nachricht vonn einer merk wurdigen literarischen Betrugerey (Information about a remarkable literary forgery). In his book, Hager spoke in detail of how he had uncovered Vella and discovered that the supposed books by Livy were nothing else than a self made hotch-potch of a book by Florus.

Hagar’s work and reports finally led to the famous Vella trial in 1796. Officially, Vella was condemned to 15 years in prison, but after a few years he was released. He died at his residence in 1814.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.