GOZO’S OUTSTANDING SON
Essays on de Soldanis, Journal of Maltese Studies, 27, Olvin Vella (issue ed.),
Department of Maltese, University of Malta in collaboration with Midsea Books,
160 pp., ISBN 978-99932-7-285-4.
Although he officially signed his name simply as
Francesco Agius, we tend to know him as Canon
Giovanni Francesco Agius Sultana, or de Soldanis to
use the Latinized version of his surname. Beyond any
doubt he is Gozo’s most illustrious son. His
historiographical, grammatical, and lexicographical
work may make him one of Malta’s most important
scholars in the eighteenth century, with a fame that
went far beyond these shores and he indeed
corresponded with some of the finest European
intellectuals of his time who were always respectful of
his ideas and opinions.
On 16 May 2007 the department of Maltese at the
University of Malta organized a conference where
several of our best researchers and foreign one shared
the result of their ongoing studies. The present very
elegant publication which contains the proceedings of
that conference will long remain as the standard source of information on de Soldanis,
his lie, and his work. It is most probable that any more information discovered will
consist of just small references and footnotes, mostly of an academic nature.
The first contribution – ‘De Soldanis: Approaches to a Biography’ – by the late Ġużè
Cassar Pullicino was actually first published in 1996 but has been updated to include
references and subsequent information. It is an excellent concise presentation of the
biographical details known about de Soldanis so far and must be the foundation of any
major new study of this figure which, one must say, remains a great desideratum.
Still Cassar Pullicino has managed to tease many details about the life of the man who
was to become the first librarian of the biblioteca founded by Balí Tencin in 1763. the
diary of his close friend Ignazio Saverio Mifsud are a great source as are his letters to
some of the most eminent literati of the period. Although there are many references to
his official and well-known work, there are also many details that show a more homely
de Soldanis, such as his complaint that for 12 years he had been kicking his heels in Gozo
where he could only hear discussions about ‘the price of grain, the growing of crops, …
gambling, hunting, and other such things’. In such instances we get a valuable insight
into the man.
Dr Frans Ciappara’s analytic contribution places de Soldanis in the milieu of the Maltese
‘pre-Enlightenment’. In the late eighteenth century, the Maltese islands truly had a
splendid vigorous flowering of notable scholars of a European stature such as Count
Ciantar, M.A. Vassalli, Nicolò Muscat, and Padre Pelagio.
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Ciappara places de Soldanis in a wider European context and discusses the role of
correspondence and travel as means of cultural enrichment. The canon was to play a
significant role in trying to raise the awareness of the Maltese to what were considered
as the two main characteristics of national identity: language and history.
Ciappara has managed to tap many interesting sources that add much to what was
known but, more importantly, analyses it. Through it all the gigantic importance of de
Soldanis emerges, notwithstanding the errors of some of his conclusion, most notably
his insistence on the Punic origins of the language. Still his conservative mindset has not
yet been influenced by the tsunami of the Enlightenment which would find very
important exponents in Malta such as Vassalli and Muscat.
Dr William Zammit writes about an unknown manuscript by de Soldanis, found in a
Palermo library, which describes the setting up of de Tencin’s library and its transfer to
the Order, and of which he was appointed the first librarian. This behind-the-scenes
account is precious evidence about the state of libraries on the island and their role in
the cultural scene.
Zammit, an authority on printing in Malta and on the eighteenth-century cultural scene
on the island, writes extensively about the development of the knights’ library that led
eventually to the magnanimous donations of Cardinal Portocarrero and Bali Tencin. De
Soldanis’ own manuscript throws light on the initial development of the library and fills
some important gaps in our knowledge, such as its specific permission to keep books
that were on the index of prohibited books. The Notizie itself is transcribed and
annotated.
Prof Alain Blondy of the Sorbonne and Dr Carmen Depasquale of the University of Malta
both contribute short communications on two newly discovered letters by de Soldanis.
In the first one Blondy writes about a letter written on 22 April 1753 to thank the Italian
author Antonio Francesco Vettori for having sent him his latest book. De Soldanis takes
the opportunity to laud the qualities of Count Ciantar.
Dr Despasquale writes about a long letter kept at the Bibliothéque Nationale de France
and addressed to the knight Etienne-François Turgot, governor general of Guyana and
Cayenne Island in response to an offer to his friend the canon to move to the Caribbean.
He excuses himself on account of his age and also because he was busy cataloguing the
books of the new library.
This valuable publication also includes of Cassar Pullicino’s 1996 extensive bibliography,
up-to-dated with the help of Carmel G. Bonavia.
Louis J. Scerri
Book review published in The Sunday Times, May 30, 2010
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