Old Valletta hotels

I read with great interest Giovanni Bonello’s illustrated feature, ‘Early Valletta hotels that are no more’ (April 17), as the subject involves my maternal ancestors quite closely.

The Cecil Hotel, in Old Bakery Street, was owned by my great-grandmother, Vincenza Borg, who passed away in 1932. It was run by her son, Feliċ.

The Cecil Hotel, in Old Bakery Street. Photo: Giovanni Bonello’s collection

In 1951, the hotel was leased by her heirs to the General Workers’ Union as their headquarters and became known as Mayfair House. The GWU moved out in 1972 to their new headquarters in South Street, Valletta, occupying the site of the Auberge de France, which had been destroyed in the war.

Mayfair House was then requisitioned by the government for social housing.

The Westminster Hotel, in Strada Reale (Republic Street) was owned by Lord Strickland. However, it was managed by my great-uncle,  Lawrence Borg until 1958, when it closed down.

My grandfather, Raphael Gabarretta, who was married to Vincenza Borg’s daughter,  Teresa, managed the St James Hotel, in St Paul Street, Valletta opposite the entrance of the Old University.

The hotel much later became known as Xavier House and belonged to the Society of Jesus.

In 1917, my grandfather took over the running of the Imperial Hotel, in St Lucia Street, Valletta, which he renamed St James Hotel.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of the Italian Risorgimento, had stayed at the Imperial during the three days he had spent in Malta in 1864.

However, the St James Hotel was destroyed by a parachute mine in an enemy air raid on April 30, 1941, which also destroyed the Auberge d’Auvergne, in Strade Reale, then housing the law courts, leaving my grandfather a broken man. He died in 1945.

Laurence Grech – Birkirkara

Neutrality

Yes, it’s time the neutrality cause be reviewed. As other writers before me said, being neutral does not guarantee us not being attacked by some rogue state.

Of course, Malta is not going to be attacked by our European neighbours but, then, on the other side of Malta we have neighbours who cannot be totally trusted. We must take a lesson from Sweden and Finland,  which came to their senses and both abandoned their neutrality and applied to join NATO. Why not Malta?

The jewel of the Mediterranean deserves to be better shielded from those who go by the law of the jungle. For them, neutrality is just writing on a piece of paper.

Alfred Gauci – Sliema

Italian language

The news that Italy wants to remove English words for business or others is totally false.

The aim is to reduce badly pronounced and uselessly utilised terms when there are perfectly adequate ones available in the Italian language.

Many of the “English” words are of Latin origin anyway.

Vivienne Formosa Scialanga – Rome