Missione archeologica italiana a Malta

Abstract

The origins of the Missione Archeologica Italiana in Malta date back to the 1960s: in 1962 Michelangelo Cagiano de Azevedo was invited in Malta by the Minister for Education of the Maltese Government for an assessment of the archaeological potentiality of historical age in Malta and Gozo. Until then, indeed, Phoenician, Punic, Roman and Byzantine evidence had been overshadowed by the extraordinary megalithic complexes of the archipelago. The Missione Archeologica Italiana was then established in 1963, under the direction of prof. Sabatino Moscati (who was then Director of the Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente at the Università “La Sapienza” of Rome) and of Cagiano de Azevedo himself (from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan), assisted in the fieldwork by Antonia Ciasca. During the 1960s were investigated three sites, chosen because highly representative of specific historical and cultural features: the sanctuary of Astarte-Hera in Tas-Silġ, with its millenary history, the San Pawl Milqi villa and the evocative site of Ras-il-Wardija in Gozo. The results of each campaign were promptly published in the preliminary reports, presenting the performed activities accompanied by photographs and plans. These reports are still the primary source of information about old excavations. Excavations were carried out yearly between 1963 and 1970: afterwards, the lack of funding brought them to a stop; notwithstanding this, researches were pursued both in Malta and in Italy, supported by Antonia Ciasca (from the Università “La Sapienza” of Rome) who directed the Missione until 2001, when she passed away. Only in 1995 it was possible to start a new course of excavations in Tas-Silġ and San Pawl Milqi, and to outline the renewed set-up of the Missione, presently directed by Maria Pia Rossignani and made up by research units from the Università Cattolica of Milan, the Università “La Sapienza” of Rome and the Università del Salento (Heads of the units: M.P. Rossignani, M.G. Amadasi, A. Cazzella, G. Semeraro).