Lina Zammit is the fourth generation to attend to customers in a family business that first opened to serve the village of Safi about 170 years ago. Ms Zammit is featured in Miranda Publishers’ Spectacular Malta 360°.

Eddie Aquilina has seen Malta change spectacularly through the camera lens and thanks to the books Miranda Publishers have issued over the last 25 years.

“Like Herbert Ganado, I can definitely say I have seen Malta change, mostly for the better,” he said.

Together with his brother, Tony, Mr Aquilina has just issued Spectacular Malta 360°, which celebrates a quarter of a century of publishing that started in 1989 with the issue of Malta 360°, an iconic book that set new standards and rapidly became a collector’s item.

It is the 34th title in the ever-growing catalogue of Malta 360° and Panoramic Malta 360°, publications that have become highly popular both among book lovers and collectors of Melitensia.

Spectacular Malta 360º is a record of the islands’ changes and their enduring beauty captured in superb images by photographer Enrico Formica. He records the islands’ splendour that is both new and old.

Other evocative images conjure up romantic visions of the Maltese islands at their most welcoming

While the changes brought on by restoration and development encouraged by modern life is documented, other evocative images conjure up romantic visions of the Maltese islands at their most welcoming.

The introduction and the photo captions were penned by Geoffrey Aquilina Ross.

The book follows as a superlative profile of some of the islands’ illustrious heritage, their architecture, their historic and religious roots and, above all, their remarkable and spectacular beauty.

Commemorating two events that changed the course of history

Miranda Publishers have also just published a limited edition that marks 50 years of independence and 10 years of EU membership.

The special edition comes in a handmade leather box, includes a silver commemorative medal, specially-designed 13 Malta Post stamps, a stamp sheet with five Malta Post stamps, an individually-signed letter by Eddie Fenech Adami, a 240-page book containing 140 colour photographs, an accompanying volume with four interviews and an individually numbered certificate of authenticity.