My room with a view is the one where I’m typing this right now. It’s the space (not an actual room) which has sofas, more cushions that the sofas can take, and most importantly, stacks of rugs all over – each within arms’ length reach so I can wrap myself when the wind outside rattles the windows.
The view is through the rickety-but-charming glass door which is framed by dangling fairy lights – to stay lit until the first signs of spring, for a bit of winter cheer. Through the glass, whenever I lift my head up, I see the orange trees with their rustling leaves and I see the array of hanging clothes in the foreground: wooden pegs clutching at jeans and shirts as they are blown about by the relentless wind.
And while I observe all this, I eat Baci.
I love Baci. I like the nutty chocolate of course, but mostly I delight in unravelling that little wrapper with cliché philosophical romantic messages, which I always read out loud to an audience which always rolls its eyes.
“You know who came up with that wrapper thing?” a friend asked me the other day. “Louisa Spagnoli.” Luisa Spagnoli? The one of the clothes, I asked? She nodded.
Spagnoli, born in Italy in 1877, was in the confectionery business but with the outbreak of World War I, when chocolate was the last thing on people’s mind, she wisely turned her business to more pressing needs – hence her clothes brand. Then after the war, the Perugina factory flourished once more and in 1923, she came up with these chocolates which look like mini mountains with a whole hazelnut on top. According to my friend (decidedly more romantic than I), the wrapper idea came about because it was the way Spagnoli communicated with her lover: through secret messages wrapped around chocolate.
I love Baci. I like the nutty chocolate of course, but mostly I delight in unravelling that little wrapper with cliché philosophical romantic messages
What is certain is that Spagnoli was a woman ahead of her times who re-invented herself according to the needs of society at the time.
This got me thinking. Do we have any such women role models in our history? I run a quick Google search for ‘famous Maltese women’ and this is what comes up: Oreste Chircop, Joseph Calleia, Joseph Calleja, Marc Storace, Alfred Sant, Dom Mintoff, Paul Boffa, Lawrence Gonzi, Joe Sacco, Dun Mikiel Xerri, Richard England, Kevin Borg, Gorg Borg Olivier, Dun Karm, Gerald Strickland, Ugo Mifsud, Guido de Marco, Antoinio Sciortino, Ruzar Briffa, Herbert Ganado, Peppi Azzopardi.
As far as I know, all men. On closer inspection, somewhere among the list of men’s names, there’s Agatha Barbara, Ira Losco, Chiara and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.
It seems that to make it on the Maltese women’s list, you either have to be a man, or a Eurovision singer or a President.
What about the other women who helped shape Maltese history? Isn’t it rather odd that in a country with a history which goes back at the very least to 5,000BC, no woman has made a huge enough impact to register in our collective memory?
Surely, they have been forgotten, or their work never recognised – which sadly is something to the great detriment of society. For beyond our family and friends, we look at people around us to find people on whom we can model ourselves and who can inspire us.
In schools around the world, all subjects provide opportunities to source role models, from literary heroes and heroines to scientific pioneers. In the UK, for example, Ada Lovelace, the first female computer scientist, is often promoted to bring the past back to life. They also have the likes of Emmeline Pankhurst, Florence Nightingale and Jane Austen, among others. The French have Marie Curie, Joan of Arc and Coco Channel. Cleopatra, Anne Frank, Mother Theresa, Malala… these are all heroines in other countries – whereas ours are all male.
Lack of Maltese female role models is a handicap to all of us – only role models from both genders can help to instil a sense of equality and can prompt a society to speak out against people who for example are promoted as assistant police commissioners despite being accused with domestic violence.
As I sit here and eat my Baci, I make my New Year’s resolution: to dig deep in the past and unearth Maltese women who have been of major influence on who we are today, who have made a difference in our journey through history. Please drop me a line if you know of worthy historic women.
krischetcuti@gmail.com
Twitter: @krischetcuti