Details on Villa Francia

Villa Francia has at last opened its doors to the public to view it after so many years of neglect for this architectural jewel. Its inauguration ceremony was held on September 12 and was attended by the chosen few, one of them being Josè Herrera who, among other things, told us so himself in an article in The Times (September 17).

Among other things, he criticised the government for neglecting this villa for a number of years - 20 years. That is true. But who knows? The opera house lay in abandon for much longer. There is always the excuse of "there were other priorities"!

Dr Herrera wrote that the Prime Minister never mentioned the Francia family in his speech. If that is true, there were no thanks to the family for bequeathing this property to the state. I do not know what the Prime Minister said, as I am not one of the chosen few, but, together with many others, I was there the next day to visit this gem and we all were given a booklet about the villa and the Prime Minister did thank the family Francia in the name of the people for their nice gesture.

May I ask Dr Herrera: Why all this cheap politics? What was Dr Herrera trying to do? Perhaps driving a wedge between the Prime Minister and the Francia family, if any members of the family are left?

Elsewhere I read an article on this villa in which a journalist said that, while the Prime Minister thanked the Francia family, he had omitted to mention the former proprietor, John Baptist Francia or his adopted son.

The journalist gave all the details the Prime Minister had failed to mention and I must confess that all was news to me. I cannot even dream of hearing a Prime Minister say what this journalist wrote in his article.

Was Dr Herrera expecting Lawrence Gonzi to mention all this? It was of interest to me to learn that a former Maltese Prime Minister was living there and was also a part of the Francia family but that is that. I am not interested in what he said in his last speech in Parliament.

In both Dr Herrera's article and also the one by the journalist, it was stated that huge carpets had disappeared. If that is true I ask the government to inform the people what happened to them.