The Italian linguist inspired by Maltese smuggling chocolate in the 1980s
A grammar guide to Maltese for Italians has been published, some 35 years after a linguist who lived near the port in Catania heard people speaking a strange language and, often, asking to buy “ċikkulata” (chocolate). Intrigued, the Italian professor soon learnt that these were Maltese people, speaking their native language, and travelling to Sicily for much sought-after chocolates so they could smuggle them back home for family and friends. Back then, in the early 1980s, former prime minister Dom Mintoff had banned the importation of items not produced in Malta, chocolate included, in an attempt to help local companies enter the market. Even though four decades passed since then, the professor, Giulio Soravia, remained intrigued by the language and has now published an ebook La Lingua Maltese (The Maltese Language), a grammar of the Maltese language for Italians, together with Arnold Cassola, a professor of Maltese and Comparative Literature at the University of Malta. Cassola met Soravia in the 1980s when they both lectured at the University of Catania. Soravia, who is now based at the University of Bologna, is a passionate linguist, with expertise ranging from the Rom...