11 10 ~ llalta lndlpendent I Saturday 22 August 2020 '1111 llalta lndlplndent I Saturday 22 August 2020 Lifestyle PALAZZO PARISIO IN-

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then gain India and the Far East­ the Church - and loyal to both. ern colonies of the British Em­ Nobles and general populace . pire. Keen to control the massive alike began to see Napoleonic fortifications and harbours of laws as an attack on their , managed to get beloved Church and a threat to a number of Knights and Maltese their traditional way of life. on his side. Within three months of the They passed on information French take-over, the Maltese re­ and were.ready to help promote volted and forced the occupiers a popular movement against to withdraw behind the fortifica­ the Order of St John and their tions of Valletta and the Three aristocratic style of government. Cities. They remained there until Lack of materials, treacherous September 1800 when they ca­ captains and general confusion, pitulated to the British forces led to the capitulation of the who had been called in to assist Order within days. The Maltese the Maltese in gaining their free­ Islands became another jewel in dom. The British fleet entered the crown of Napoleon. , marking the months, later these imposed, were about to run out. since Napoleon and his troops The radical reforms introduced start of a century and a half deep rooted and abrupt changes ,The French Occupation The French domination of the were initially welcomed by the by the new rulers were excessive of British rule. uilt in the early 18th of Bishop Sceberras. instigated the insurrection of the The French occupation of Maltese islands was short and Maltese. However, this was the Order of St John, than by any Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion in the eyes of the locals who were century by Bishop Paolo Parisio played an influ­ Maltese against the French. With Malta lasted from 1798 to 1800. turbulent. Their arrival in prompted more by a growing real affection for the revolution­ of Malta was part of a strategic still largely dominated by two in­ Photos: Joe Demanuele in Sceberras on the site ential role during the latter French forces blockaded inside It was established whe,n 1798 had promised otherwise dislike of the incumbent rulers, ary ideals of France. design to conquer Egypt and stitutions - the aristocracy and 2007 for First magazine of two former houses years of the Order of St. John's Valletta, Chevalier Parisio left the Order of Saint John surren­ in Merchants Street, rule in Malta. It was during this the city to join the Maltese peas­ dered to Napoleon thenB known as Strada San Gia­ period that the site acquired its ant army at the head of the Bonaparte following the French como, Palazzo Parisio consists of lasting erJithet of Palazzo Parisio. Naxxar battalion. Following the landing in June 1798. In Malta, three elements, each two storeys On 13th June 1798 Napoleon establishment of British rule the French established a consti­ high, enclosing a central court­ Bonaparte landed in Malta and (1800) Paolo Parisio resumed tutional tradition in Maltese his­ yard. A new third storey was took residence at the Palazzo. his involvement in his country's tory (as part of the French added after World War I. By the During his seven eventful days' affairs and was held in high es­ Republic), granted free educa­ late 18th century the property stay at the Palazzo, prior to em­ teem by the local British author­ tion for all, and theoretically es­ became the town house of barking for his Egyptian cam­ ities. Visiting British .military tablished freedom of the press, Chavalier Paolo Parisio Muscati, paign, Napoleon dictated the officers, including Generals although only the · pro-French a Neapolitan-Maltese nobleman transformation of Malta's an­ Abercrombie and Graham, took newspaper journal de Malte was who had married Donna Anna cient legal and administrative up temporary residence at his actually published during the oc­ Muscati, grand-daughter of structures in the Republican Palazzo and he was one of the cupation. Donna Maria Sceberras, mother Code Napoleon. Less than three first Maltese to be honoured The French abolished nobil­ with the Order of St Michael and ity, slavery, the feudal system, St George. and the Inquisition. The only re­ An interesting phase in the maining architectural reminder ,...... ,.. c Palazzo's history relates to the of the French occupation is prob­ ;: period preceding the Italian uni­ ably the defacement of <:ll ~ fication, when leading intellec­ most coat-of-arms on the <:ll tual and artistic personaljties of fa~ades of buildings of the ·i:: the early 'Risorgimento' became knights. The Maltese soon re­ ~ ~ forced exiles in Malta. While in belled against the French and ;.::.., Malta, they found a natural affin­ drove the French garrison into ..tl ity not only with those of a kin­ Valletta and the Grand Harbour '1::t dred spirit who had been fortifications where they were ...~ agitating for local self-govern­ besieged for more than two - ment, but also with the local in­ years. The French surrendered cf telligentsia. Malta when their food supplies u I I