20th January 2011
Casa Rocca Piccola was paid a visit by three beautiful Spanish Actresses, Adriana Torrebejano, Dafne Fernandez and Silvia Alonso.
They were brought to Malta by the Malta Tourism Authority as part of a drive to promote Malta in Spain.
Wednesday 31st October 2010
Many thanks to HSBC for yet again sponsoring the The Malta Lace Competition and increasing the Prize Money to €3000. This year the new category of Ganutell on top of the traditional Maltese Bobbin Lace was introduced and the quality of the submitted pieces continues to rise.
The prize giving that was held in the garden at Casa Rocca Piccola was attended by around a hundred people and cash prizes were awarded to a talented 30 individuals. Josef Camilleri representing HSBC said that they were very happy to sponsor The Malta Lace Competition and would continue to do so.
Wednesday 27th October 2010
All of us at Casa Rocca Piccola are very grateful to Mark Pace who kindly donated two important books to the de Piro Archives. Mark who shares a great grandfather (Alessandro de Piro d'Amico pictured bottom right) with Marquis de Piro donated one book (top right) containing the records of what is known as a “Seconda Genitura” which is an entailed estate set up for the second son in the family who would be expected to enter into the Church. The estate in question was set up by Antonio D’Amico Inguanez whose portrait (top left) hangs at Casa Rocca Piccola.
The other book (bottom left) is the last Will and Testament of Maria Teresa d'Amico Inguanez and contains almost 70 pages! Maria Teresa who died in 1870 was the unmarried daughter of the Baron of Djar Il Bniet and Buqana.
The Archives at Casa Rocca Piccola are presently the subject of a doctoral thesis being undertaken at the University of Oxford by Anton Caruana Galizia and it is hoped that these donated books will add to the wealth of information about the unique customs and traditions of the Maltese Nobility.
Wednesday, 19th May 2010
The Minister of Tourism, The Hon. Dr Mario de Marco recently hosted a dinner to thank all those people who had helped to promote Malta as a tourist destination.
In his witty and eloquent after dinner speech he thanked Marquis de Piro for his support and joked that Casa Rocca Piccola was definitely not ‘Piccola’!
Tuesday, 30th March 2010
Vulcan has finally decided to make a much awaited appearance after hibernating away for the cold winter months. With a certain amount of reluctance he was coaxed into basking in a bit of Spring sun and all of us at Casa Rocca Piccola hope to see more of him over the next few busy months.
Vulcan who is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) sometimes entertains tourists with his dare devil high diving stunt which can be seen on the Casa Rocca Piccola podcasts.
Wednesday, 14th January 2009
Members of the Maltese Nobility got together at Casa Rocca Piccola to listen to Anton Caruana Galizia deliver a lecture. Anton who has researched the Archivum de Piro over a number of years is now a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Oxford in the UK and is using the fascinating Albani correspondence as a case study.
The Albani Family of Rome produced Pope Clement XI,(pictured) 3 Cardinals and also a Knight of Malta. The Archivum de Piro contains an extensive collection of letters from various members of the Albani family to Giovanni Pio de Piro, the 1st Baron and 1st Marquis de Piro. Some of the letters contain grateful thanks from the Albani Cardinals for having paid off the debts of an errant nephew and specifically for doing it in such a way so that he was not embarrassed!
The lecture gave an insight into how the study of Maltese noble families can test standard historical interpretations of social relations in Malta during the Hospitaller period, and make a significant contribution to the historiography of early modern Malta and Europe.
Saturday, 27th December 2007
Casa Rocca Piccola was honoured by a visit from the Ex President of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing andmembers of his family. Monsieur Giscard d'Estaing who is a Bali Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta spoke about how impressive the legacy of the Knights of Malta was and commented on the beauty of both Valletta and Mdina.
Monsieur Giscard d'Estaing and his family stayed at the Xara Palace in Mdina.
Saturday, 7th April 2007
Casa Rocca Piccola was honoured by an official visit from Princess Benedikte of Denmark who is the sister of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Princess Benedikte was accompanied by H.E. Noel Buttigieg Scicluna, Maltese Ambasador to Denmark and Adrian Strickland K.M., Maltese Ambassador to The Hague.
Her Royal Highness sampled the traditional Maltese delicacy ‘Pastizzi’ and pronounced them “delicious”.
