The Corfiot Maltese are a population from the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra) with ethnic and religious ties to the islands of Malta. A large community of descendants of Maltese is still present in Corfu. [2] In the case of the Maltese Corfiot, who lost knowledge of the Maltese language in favour of Greek in the first half of the 20th century, religious confession remained the strongest identity marker. [3] Maltese Corfiots today make up 2/3 of the local Catholic community.
With the institution of the United States of the Ionian Islands in 1815, the British authorities encouraged immigration from Malta, as well as from Sicily and southern Italy, to the newly-acquired Greek islands. These were mainly "financial immigrants, political exiles, specialised craftmen and artists in the service of the British forces, as well as experienced farmers". [4] : 18 The organised migration, which was aimed at "redeveloping society" in Corfu and Kefalonia, was particularly supported by the Great Lord Commissioner (and Governor of Malta) Thomas Maitland (1816-1823). [4] : 18 The British invited married stonemasons so that their work would be continued by their children, and as a consequence 80 people (40 families from 1815 until 1860) were transported to Corfu. [5]
When building the Palace of St. Michael and St. George in Corfu town in 1819-1824, despite local prejudice, the British colonial administration called on Maltese builders, including the sculptors Vincenzo and Ferdinando Dimech, to work along architect Sir George Whitmore as specialised crafters of the Maltese limestone. The Maltese craftsmen also supervised the construction of public buildings, cisterns and fortifications in Corfu town. [4] : 21 The Maitland Monument (Rotunda) was also built in Maltese limestone in 1821.
In September 1826, around 278 farmers from Gozo landed at Argostoli in Kefalonia, following a request of the island's governor Charles James Napier to Malta's governor Lord Hastings, who had agreed to it following assurances that the migration project would be self-funded and not a burden on the treasury. Migrant Maltese, who could not afford any travel or settlement expenses, were supported by private benefactors such as the Marquis Vincenzo Bugeja and the Greek Maltese merchant Giovanni di Nicolò Pappaffy. [4] : 19 Yet, once in Kefalonia, Maltese migrants faced social isolation and economic deprivation. In February 1829, Corfu's Commissioner Frederic Adam wrote to Napier asking why the Maltese immigrants had decreased in number, lived in poverty, and complained about hostility from Kefalonians. The latter, in turn, wrote to Adam that, while they had been promised competent farmers, with few exceptions they found "lazy, ignorant, uneducated, dirty, sick and maladjusted people who seemed like a flock of sheep, abandoned by a foreign country into their own community". [4] : 20 Given the situation, two years later in 1831 all Maltese were moved from Kefalonia to Corfu to strengthen the local community.
Despite being Roman Catholic, in the 19th century the Maltese could not count upon the assistance of the Archdiocese of Corfu, which was mainly concerned with the more affluent Italian community living in Corfu town. Only few visiting priests from Malta came from time to time to Corfu to administer sacrament, particularly during Lent. [4] : 22–23 Also to cope with this situation, the Corfiot Maltese gathered in the Britannia self-help association ("Associazione di mutuo soccorso fra i sudditi inglesi residenti a Corfu denominata BRITANNIA"). [4] : 256
The Maltese remained the most socially disadvantaged group in Corfu. They lived in the outskirts of town, in two rural communities called Maltezika (from Malta) and Cozzella (from Gozo), where they were the first to cultivate sweet potatoes and pear trees, and to rear rabbits. Yet, while they were paid up to a third of a farmer's wage (when not paid in-kind with basic staples), they were accused of stealing jobs fom the Corfiots. It took decades for the Maltese to achieve social inclusion in Corfiot society. [4] : 21 At the 1888 international exposition in Athens, several Maltese Corfiot cultivators won awards for their production. Angelo Farrugia and Dionisio Laferla pioneered photography in Corfu, [6] and Farrugia was also acknowledged as bookbinder to the Greek royal court. Social progress was the main aim of Spiro Gauci, who in 1887 co-founded with Thomas Powers and directed the Workers' Fraternity. Other distinguished Maltese Corfiots of the late 19th century included: [4] : 23
Corfiot Maltese were particularly devout to St Spiridion, whose cult was already popular in Malta, taking part in the Saint's processions with the traditional torches. In 1862, Schembri printed in Corfu a leaflet with the hymn to the patron saint of the island, St Spiridion: Cronicla in onore del glorioso taumaturgo Santo Spiridione Vecovo di Trimitunte e protettore di Corcira scritta dal Dr. Sacerdote Francesco Saverio Schembri, Maltese (Corcira tip. Jonia di Spiridione ed. Arsenio fratelli Cao, 1862, p.8). [4] : 256
While the first merchant with a Maltese name is recorded in Corfu already in 1802, in 1824 there were 25 men and women working for the British administration; the same year Lorenzo Tabone was the first Maltese to appeal to the Senate and obtain the title of Citizen of the Ionian State. Only in 1828, the number of Maltese in the archipelago has grown to 508, and to 804 in 1832. Maltese emigration to these islands practically ceased when they were returned to Greece in 1864. By the end of the century, in 1891, there were 1,673 Maltese in Greece, of which 928 in Corfu. [4] : 22
After the union of Corfu with Greece in 1864, several Corfiot Maltese families, especially the Atzopardis (Azzopardi), moved to Cardiff, Wales; some of them returned to Corfu in the 1920s, and remain known as the Cardiff Corfiots. [5] In the late 19 century, some Corfiot Maltese resettled in Smyrna in Asia Minor, joining the local Maltese community while retaining their British passports. They left after the 1922 fire. [3]
In 1901, there were almost one thousand people in Corfu who considered themselves to be ethnic Maltese. In Cephalonia, the number was 225. There were another hundred Maltese spread among the other lesser islands of the Ionian Group.
In Cozzella, the Franciscan Sisters of Malta (headed by the Gozitan Mother Margherita De Brincat) opened a convent and a school in 1907, [7] which operated till 1961. [3] The Franciscan school was pivotal in fostering the language shift among the Corfiot Maltese, and their social assimilation in the Greek-speaking society of Corfu. the Society of Greek Catholics of Corfu, founded in the early 1920s, represented one more step of integration of the Catholic community in the Greek society. [4] : 26
The first resident spiritual guide for the Maltese Corfiot was Father Domenico Darmanin (1843-1919), a Corfiot Maltese himself, who had previously served at the Archdiocese of Syros, and who served as Bishop of Corfu from 1912 till his death. [4] : 22–23
In 1923, there were some 1,200 ethnic Maltese in Corfu, but many of them spoke either Greek or the local Corfiot dialect, which still bore traces of the Venetian occupation of the island. Because of this Venetian connection, Fascist propagandists tried to build up an irredentist case for Corfu. Guido Puccio wrote in Tribuna, a leading Roman newspaper on 12 September 1923, that the Maltese element in Corfu could be used as an instrument to further Italian claims on that island. The Italian navy bombarded and briefly occupied Corfu in the Corfu incident of August-September 1923.
In 1926, all Corfu-born Maltese who had not become British citizens were asked to register with the municipality and acquire Greek citizenship, or they would be expelled from the islands. [4] : 26 In 1930, the Maltese in Corfu had their own priest who looked after their welfare while he kept useful contacts with the ecclesiastical and civil authorities in Malta. That priest was the Rev. Spiridione Cilia, who had been born in Corfu of Maltese parents and became the parish priest of the Maltese community. [5]
In 1940, when the Italian Army occupied Corfu once again, the 2,500 well-integrated Maltese Corfiots could not be prey of fascist propaganda. Corfu was then occupied by the Nazi German army in 1943; following heavy Allied bombardment, in April 1944 the Nazi occupiers decided to intern all British citizens present in Greece, including the Corfiot Maltese. Yet, following consultation with the former British Consul, the Nazis realised that the consistent Maltese Corfiot community (562 British citizens) was mainly composed of merchants and farmers, had little command of English language and had mainly obtained British citizenship by inheritance. In May 1944, the Nazi command in Ioannina advised the Corfu commander to deport the Corfiot Maltese to labor camps in Germany. This decision was never carried due to the course of the war. The Nazis did exterminate up to 2,000 Corfiot Jews, deported to Auschwitz, before retreating to the mainland by October 1944. [8] During the war the main church of the Maltese Catholic community in Corfu town, the Cathedral of Saint James and Saint Christopher, was burned down together with its archives. It was later rebuilt in simple Latin style. [9]
After the war, a number of Maltese families abandoned Corfu and settled in Cardiff, Wales, to work in the industrial zone there. They founded the Saint Spiridion" Association of Corfiot and All-Greek Roman Catholics, [10] retaining strong links with Corfu and the Franciscan Sisters. [4] : 26 There are around 500 Catholic Corfiots in the Cardiff area today. [10]
The Corfiot Maltese community currently numbers 3,500 people in the entire island. They constitute the center of the Catholic community of Corfu, but not one among continues to speaks the Maltese language. Typical Maltese Corfiot surnames include Psailas (Psaila), Spiteris (Spiteri), Atzopardis (Azzopardi), Soueref (Xuereb), Sakkos (Sacco) and Michalef (Micallef). [5]
The former mayor of the city of Corfu, Sotiris Micalef, is of Maltese descent. Maltese Corfiot Yannis Spiteris, O.F.M. Cap., was Catholic archbishop of Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia from 2003 till 2020. [11]
Since 2011, the Maltese Corfiot Spiros Gautsis (Gauci) is honorary consul of Malta in Corfu. [3] In 2012, an exhibition was held at the Palace entitled "Maltese in Corfu".
Corfu or Kerkyra is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered by three municipalities with the islands of Othonoi, Ereikoussa, and Mathraki. The principal city of the island is also named Corfu. Corfu is home to the Ionian University.
Ithaca, Ithaki or Ithaka is a Greek island located in the Ionian Sea, off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and to the west of continental Greece.
Kefalonia or Cephalonia, formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (Κεφαλληνία), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region. It was a former Latin Catholic diocese Kefalonia–Zakynthos (Cefalonia–Zante) and short-lived titular see as just Kefalonia. The capital city of Cephalonia is Argostoli.
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, but the group includes many smaller islands in addition to the seven principal ones.
The Septinsular Republic was an oligarchic republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under nominal Russian and Ottoman sovereignty in the Ionian Islands.
The Philharmonic Society of Corfu, or Old Philharmonic -to be distinguished from the other 17 bands on the island-, is a widely known community music band in Corfu, Greece.
The Catholic Church in Greece is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Indigenous Roman Catholic Greeks numbered about 50,000-70,000 in 2022 and were a religious and not an ethnic minority. Most of them are a remnant of Venetian and Genoese rule in southern Greece and many Greek islands from the early 13th until the late 18th century, Greeks who converted to Catholicism or descendants of the thousands of Bavarians that came to Greece in the 1830s as soldiers and civil administrators, accompanying King Otto. One very old but still common term to reference to them is Φράγκοι, or "Franks", dating to the times of the Byzantine Empire, when medieval Greeks would use that term to describe all Catholics.
The United States of the Ionian Islands was a Greek state and amical protectorate of the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1864. The successor state of the Septinsular Republic, it covered the territory of the Ionian Islands, as well as the town of Parga on the adjacent mainland in modern Greece. It was ceded by the British to Greece as a gift to the newly enthroned King George I, apart from Parga, which had been sold to Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1819.
The Heptanese School of painting succeeded the Cretan School as the leading school of Greek post-Byzantine painting after Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school, it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence and also saw the first significant depiction of secular subjects. The school was based in the Ionian Islands, which were not part of Ottoman Greece, from the middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century. The center of Greek art migrated urgently to the Ionian islands but countless Greek artists were influenced by the school including the ones living throughout the Greek communities in the Ottoman Empire and elsewhere in the world.
Corfiot Italians are a population from the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra) with ethnic and linguistic ties to the Republic of Venice. Their name was specifically established by Niccolò Tommaseo during the Italian Risorgimento. During the first half of the 20th century, Mussolini successfully used the Corfiot Italians as a pretext to occupy Corfu twice.
Imperialism, colonialism and irredentism played an important role in the foreign policy of Fascist Italy. Among the regime's goals were the acquisition of territory considered historically Italian in France and Yugoslavia, the expansion of Italy's sphere of influence into the Balkans and the acquisition of more colonies in Africa. The pacification of Libya (1923–32), the invasion of Ethiopia (1935–36), the invasion of Albania (1939), the invasion of France (1940), the invasion of Greece (1940–41) and the invasion of Yugoslavia (1941) were all undertaken in part to add to Italy's national space. According to historian Patrick Bernhard, Fascist Italian imperialism under Benito Mussolini, particularly in Africa, served as a model for the much more famous expansionism of Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe.
The Archdiocese of Corfu, Zakynthos, and Cefalonia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church comprising the Ionian islands of Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia in western Greece.
Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, Italian for The Noble Theatre of Saint James of Corfu, or simply Teatro di San Giacomo, was a theatre in Corfu, Greece which became the centre of Greek opera between 1733 and 1893. Despite its provincial origins it attracted Italian musicians and composers, many of whom became permanent residents of Corfu and contributed to the local music scene. The theatre acted as a catalyst in this cultural interaction and gave impetus to the development of the Ionian School of Music. Corfiot composer Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros was a beneficiary of the synergy between the Italian and Corfiot musical traditions. The Theatre and its historical archives were destroyed during a German Luftwaffe bombing raid in 1943.
The first period of French rule in the Ionian Islands lasted from June 1797 to March 1799. Following the fall of the Republic of Venice in May 1797, the Ionian Islands, a Venetian possession, were occupied by Revolutionary France. The French instituted a new, democratic regime and, following the Treaty of Campo Formio, annexed the islands to France, forming the three departments of Corcyre (Corfu), Ithaque (Ithaca) and Mer-Égée.
The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet of Anticythera, indirectly in 1238 and directly after 1363. In 1386 the Council of Corfu, which was the governing body of the island, voted to make Corfu a vassal of Venice. During the Venetian period the Council remained the most powerful institution on the island. A century later, Venice captured Zante in 1485, Cephalonia in 1500 and Ithaca in 1503. These three islands modelled their administration on Corfu's model and formed their own councils. The conquest was completed in 1718 with the capture of Lefkada. Each of the islands remained part of the Venetian Stato da Màr until Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797. The Ionian Islands are situated in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece. Cythera, the southernmost, is just off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Corfu, the northernmost, is located at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was generally prosperous, especially compared with the coinciding Tourkokratia — Turkish rule over the remainder of present-day Greece.
The Palace of St. Michael and St. George is a palace in Corfu City on the island of Corfu, Greece. Commissioned by Sir Thomas Maitland, it originally served as the residence of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. It was built between 1819 and 1824, to a neoclassical design of Colonel George Whitmore.
Spiridione Roma, also known as Spiridon or Spyridon Romas, was a Greek painter from Corfu. He was a prominent member of the Heptanese School. His contemporary was Spyridon Sperantzas. He was another painter from Corfu. He also painted all over Italy and settled in Triste. Romas painted on the Ionian Islands, Sicily, and Livorno before settling in England. He was one of the few Greek painters to travel to a foreign country outside of the Greek or Italian world. The other two were El Greco and Efstathios Altinis. He was also a British painter during the last decades of his life. He was active in the region from 1770 to 1786. According to the Hellenic Institute, over twenty-five of his works survived. He was the British El Greco. His most popular work is a painting entitled The East Offering its Riches to Britannia.
Emigration from Malta or the Maltese diaspora consists of Maltese people and their lineal descendants who emigrated from Malta. It was an important demographic phenomenon throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading to the creation of large diaspora’s concentrated in English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States.
The Maitland Monument, also known as the Maitland Rotunda or the Peristyle of Maitland, is a neoclassical monument located at the end of Spianada Square in Corfu. It was built in 1821 to honour Sir Thomas Maitland, a British military officer who was the last Civil Commissioner and first Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
The Treaty of Constantinople of 2 April [O.S. 21 March] 1800 was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, and heralded the creation of the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire.
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