Throughout history, Malta has served as a refuge and safe haven for many who had fallen foul of the law, or who were being pursued and persecuted for various other reasons in their home country. From the pre-Christian era right up to the present, renegades and fugitives have made their way to the Maltese islands to escape their pursuers. Some were successful and found relative, though not permanent, safety, while others left Malta only to be captured elsewhere. This two-part article is intended to highlight some of the more illustrious of these visitors and to delve into the historical facts behind these seekers of sanctuary.

The earliest recorded escape to Malta dates back to the eighth century B.C. The escapee in question was Anna, the younger sister of Dido, Queen of Carthage (modern-day Tunisia). Rather than succumb to becoming the wife of the tyrant Berber King Iarbas, Dido committed suicide. Anna was forced to flee Carthage to escape the wrath of Iarbas.

The story of Anna’s flight was documented by two Roman poets – the celebrated Ovid (43 BC-AD18) and the less eminent Silius Italicus (AD26-101). Both poets relate how Anna sought refuge in the Kingdom of Battus where she stayed for two years. After this sojourn, she was again forced to flee as her hostile brother Pygmalion was reputed to be sailing in the vicinity.

So how does Malta feature in this saga? Ovid’s account, in the third book of his Fasti (a poetical treatise on the Roman Calendar), identifies Malta as the Kingdom of Battus. The frequently quoted verse “Fertile est Melite, sterili vicina Cosyrae, Insula, quam Lybici verberat unda freti” (“Melite is fertile, lashed by the waves of the Libyan Sea and neighbour to the barren Cosyra”) serves to establish Malta (close to Cosyra, the ancient name of Pantelleria) as the island of refuge for the beleaguered Anna. Ovid goes on to relate how Anna steered her course for this island, trusting to the hospitality of her old acquaintance King Battus, which she then enjoyed for two years.

An 1851 watercolour by Edward Lear showing the town of Pentedattilo.

The parallel account by Silius Italicus tallies perfectly with Ovid’s poem (to which Silius, of course, had access) except for one significant detail: he discards the idea that Battus was King of Malta and instead opts for Cyrene as his Kingdom.

Since the appearance of these two accounts of Anna’s flight, disagreement has existed among academics as to whether Battus was indeed King of Malta and as to what degree of historical veracity can be attributed to these accounts, which were written 800 years after the supposed happenings. So the earliest documented fugitive to Malta is shrouded in the hazy mists which linger between truth, history and legend. Fact or fiction? Malta or Cyrene? The controversy persists.

Twenty-three centuries separate the story of Anna and that of the next fugitive to Malta to be discussed, the one with the highest profile – Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), the artist who has been labelled ‘genius’, ‘punk’ and ‘a versatile pain in the a##e’. His flight to Malta was one of the greatest twists of fortune to befall the Maltese Islands, where he left a priceless legacy of sublime works of art.

The young Michelangelo Merisi was an apprenticed artist in Caravaggio, a small town near Milan whence his family, who had strong connections with the powerful Colonna family, had fled following a plague outbreak. Here his violent nature was already evident and he was involved in several brawls. During one of these affrays in 1592 a police officer was wounded, and this led to his first flight from the clutches of the law.

He made his way to Rome where he settled down, if that phrase can be applied to this restless genius, and produced many significant paintings which attracted attention, particularly that of Cardinal Francesco del Monte, one of Rome’s leading art connoisseurs. The cardinal took Caravaggio under his wing and became his patron; in contrast with some of his earlier, rather frivolous subjects, the artist started to produce religious paintings of note and he acquired a degree of celebrity in Roman art and religious circles.

His artistic success and consequent celebrity did not, however, temper his violent and dissolute way of life. He became notorious for the brawls in which he became involved, often following disagreements over sexual favours. During one of these quarrels in 1606, he killed a young man by the name of Ranuccio Tomassoni.

Accounts of this crime differ: some say it was a quarrel following a game of tennis, others that the two fell out over a prostitute they both frequented; the most remarkable is that proposed in 2002 by the leading art historian Andrew Grahame-Dixon, who reached the conclusion that Tomassoni died following a botched attempt by Caravaggio to cut off his testicles.

Michelangelo again found himself on the run, and although Cardinal del Monte and his other patrons had protected the artist from the consequences of his earlier transgressions, protection from the crime of murder was beyond their powers. Caravaggio had to flee the Eternal City, the second in a series of escapes that were to mark the artist as a ‘serial fugitive’ and a veritable ‘escape artist’.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who escaped to Malta following a murder in Rome.

He fled to Naples, which was outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities, and established himself there. Owing to his family connections with the influential Colonnas, Caravaggio immediately secured many Church commissions and he continued to flourish in the Neapolitan art milieu. His stay in Naples, however, only lasted a few months as he had soon left for Malta, hoping to enlist Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt’s assistance in securing a pardon for Tomassoni’s murder.

Wignacourt was duly impressed, so much so that he appointed him official painter of the Order and accepted him as a knight. His impetuous and violent nature, however, was soon to result in his arrest and imprisonment in August 1608. The details are sketchy, but it was another affray in which a knight was wounded that led to this debacle.

By October, Michelangelo had already contrived to escape from his cell in Fort St Angelo and to make his way to Sicily. Outraged by this escape, the Order declared him to be “a foul and rotting member” and stripped him of his knighthood. Ironically, the defrockment ceremony took place in front of the artist’s greatest masterpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist.

Caravaggio’s art again flourished during his nine-month stay in Sicily. In 1610 he sailed towards the north in order secure a pardon in Rome. The events following his departure are shrouded in uncertainty. His death, attributed to a fever, was reported in July. His body was never found.

Caravaggio’s violence pales into insignificance compared to the evil misdeeds attributed to another Italian who sought sanctuary in Malta – Bernardino Abanevolo, Baron of Montebello, a small town in Reggio Calabria. In reality, the baron had set in motion a plot that was to result in several deaths, but he himself was not directly involved in the murders.

The Latin poet Ovid (left) and Silius Italicus who disagreed about whether Malta was the Kingdom of Battus.

Set in a Romeo and Juliet scenario, the story unfolds towards the end of the 17th century in Montebello and the nearby town of Pentedattilo. The latter was a small town which has now been abandoned and has become a ghost town. The name is derived from its position in the foothills of the Monte Calvario, whose shape resembled the five fingers of a human hand.

Bernardino Abanevolo fell deeply in love with Antonia of the Alberti family, who lorded it over Pentedattilo. The Abanevolo and the Alberti had a long-standing quarrel over feudal rights, so Bernardino’s courtship of Antonia was not looked upon favourably by her brother Lorenzo, marchese of Pentedattilo. To further confound matters, Lorenzo had contrived to arrange a marriage between Antonia and Don Petrillo Cortez, son of the Viceroy of Naples, a union that would have given inestimable power to the Alberti and ensured their ascendancy over the Abenavolo clan.

The love between Bernardino and Antonia deepened, and as the impending marriage to Don Petrillo, which was fixed for April 1685, approached, Bernardino devised a plan that would involve the feigned kidnapping of Antonia, who, of course, was privy to the whole plot.

In the evening of April 14, 1685, Easter Sunday, Bernardino, accompanied by 50 armed men, approached the castle of the Alberti and gained entrance through a secondary gate which had been left open by one of Antonia’s maids. Oblivious to what was happening, Lorenzo, his guests and his family, including Antonia and Petrillo, were spending some family time in the salone of the castle. Suddenly Bernardino and his men burst in and in the chaos that ensued, Antonia was “kidnapped” and Petrillo taken captive.

After Bernardino, Antonia and Petrillo left, it all went wrong: Lorenzo and his guests attempted to retaliate and Bernardino’s men opened fire, resulting in a veritable massacre and a bloody spectacle. Among the dead were Lorenzo and his mother, Antonia’s younger siblings Anna and Simone, and most of Lorenzo’s guests. Lorenzo’s wife, his mother-in-law and some other guests were miraculously spared. Bernardino, who only learnt of the bloodbath later, together with his ‘captives’ Antonia and Petrillo, reached the castle of Montebello, where the latter was held in custody.

When news of the carnage reached Naples, the Viceroy immediately determined to hunt down the Duke of Montebello and his henchmen and to free his son Petrillo. In Pentedattilo, several men who were held to have collaborated with Bernardino were arrested and hanged on the castle walls. Bernardino and Antonia, however, were relatively safe in Montebello. In April 1686, having recovered from the awful tragedy, they were secretly married in the church of San Nicola in Montebello.

Bernardino realised he was in great danger, and together with his new wife and some of his faithful followers, he undertook the arduous journey across the mountains to Reggio Calabria. Here he entrusted Antonia to a local monastery and, after spending some time disguised as a friar, he escaped the approaching Spanish troops intent on securing his arrest. Eventually he found himself in Brancaleone where his party embarked on a fishing boat disguised as fishermen and sailed down the east coast of Sicily until they reached Malta.

Once in Malta, Bernardino decided to enrol in the Order’s army under a false name and was successful in this endeavour. At the time the Order and its allies, under the aegis of the Holy See, were at war with the Ottoman Army in Austria and Hungary, and Bernardino was sent to Hungary where he distinguished himself in battle, showing fearlessness and courage by virtue of which he was appointed captain in the Habsburg Army.

He was eventually recognised in Buda by a soldier in the Austrian Army who himself hailed from Montebello and was denounced to the Austrian authorities. After spending some time under house arrest, he was afforded an audience with the Emperor Leopold I. The Emperor accepted his plea that he was not directly involved in the Pentadattilo massacre and reinstated him in the army to continue to serve against the Turkish enemy.

He met his death during a bloody encounter in August 1687 when he was hit by a cannonball while conducting operations on the deck of an Austrian galleon. Thus ended Bernardino Abenavolo’s tragic pursuit of a happiness which he could never enjoy, dishonoured because he had provoked so much bloodshed, while his beloved Antonia continued to live in a nunnery full of sadness and remorse.

(To be concluded)