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 Gio.
Antonio Vassallo was born in Valletta on the 5th
June 1817, the son of Vincenzo and Maria Vassallo.
His teachers were Mons. Pietro Paolo Psaila and the
famous Maltese scholar Giuseppe Zammit (Brighella).
He learnt Italian and Latin literatures, and also
knew Arabic and French.
On the 8th January 1839 he entered the University
and two and a half years later graduated as Doctor
of Laws. In 1841 he went to Egypt and spent 13
months there. Five years after he returned from
Egypt, he was selected as a teacher to teach Italian
at the lyceum and on the 28th December 1863 he
succeeded Prof. Lorenzo Pullicino in the Chair of
Italian Literature at the University of Malta where
he retired shortly afterwards for health reasons.
He published his "Storja ta’ Malta miktuba ghall-Poplu
Malti" and later in 1854 he published "Storja
ta’ Malta", from the early beginnings to the
Treaty of Amiens. Other historical articles include
small publications on Malta’s conversion to
Christianity, Malta and the Sicilian Vespers and the
uprising of the Priests of 1775.
Vassallo was also a prolific biographer. He wrote
about 50 distinguished Maltese who had made a name
for themselves in various fields.
In 1842 he wrote an epic poem "Il-Gifen Tork",
it had 37 sestets on the subject of the Ottoman
Crown episode of 1760. He also published "Hrejjef
bil-Malti" and "Hrejjef u Cajt bil-Malti"
in 1861 and 1863.
His most famous novel, the epic poem "Il-Ġifen Tork",
written in 1842, was translated into
Esperanto by Dr Carmel Mallia with the title: "La
Turka Ĉefgalero" and was included in the
Esperanto Anthology (Antologio de Maltaj Poetoj)
Mallia translated and published in 1985.
Vassallo died on March 29, 1868, and is buried in
the Carmelite church in Valletta. |
