Common history

Progettokasa considers the common history of Malta and Sicily, "so linked in the past, so disjointed in the present":

The links between southeast Sicily and Malta date back to prehistory and continued over the centuries, until the arrival of the British in Malta. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Maltese communities took part in the establishment of new towns such as Pachino. Maltese artisans worked in the reconstruction of cities around Ragusa and Syracuse destroyed by the 1693 earthquake.

The relations between the two populations were so close that there was even a common dialect – the sibar – made up of a mix of Italian, Sicilian, Arabic and Maltese – which was a lingua franca used by merchants and seamen.

A study presented last Monday listed an impressive number of sites that link the two peoples. The study, KASA or Koinè Archeologica, Sapiente Antichità, involved three partners: the University of Malta, the course in the Cultural Heritage of Syracuse at the University of Catania and the Medieval Studies Faculty of Palermo.

The study highlighted 99 sites, all considered to be minor, ranging from 48 pre-historic sites to 51 sites from post-classical times around Ragusa and Syracuse. In Malta, the studies focused on the Mellieha tonnara, the rock church of St Leonard, and the underground Wignacourt complex in Rabat.

The study will present its findings in a common database, as well as in a nine-volume study, and a heritage trail will link the Maltese catacombs to its Sicilian counterparts.