Marquis Nicholas de Piro, what is a typical day for you?
There are always things that I should have done that I have not done yet! I wake up quite early and have a quick look at the newspaper, then a reasonably modest breakfast. Before sitting down at my desk, my wife reminds me: "Don't forget Kiku!" So I go down one floor, uncover our parrot's cage and take him down to his perch in the garden. Visitors waiting for the start of a tour of the house love chatting with him.
Then back to my desk and a look at my diary. There are seven tours a day at Casa Rocca Piccola and they are handled by our guides. I am sometimes booked to do a tour for a specific group who are visiting Malta together: Swiss Guards from the Vatican, perhaps, or a particular historical society or a French or Italian cultural society which I can just about manage; a group of collectors interested, perhaps, in costume or lace - these have to be dealt with on a more personal basis, including bringing out of storage items that are not usually on show. There are other things to do, of course: letters to write and letters to answer and appointments to keep outside the house.
Valletta has changed very much over time in a number of ways. What role do you feel Casa Rocca Piccola has played?
There are many things of interest and enlightening significance to see in our capital of Valletta. The most important include the prehistoric remains at the Museum of Archaeology; St John's - which I describe as the only church we have which can even impress somebody from Rome!; the (now MUZA) Fine Arts National Collection; the Grand Master's Palace; the Manoel Theatre; the streets and the harbour views. These are all important, but there is something else which a visitor needs to see, and that is the Maltese identity. This is composed of pretention, aspiration, taste and bric-a-brac and it can all be embodied and focused on in a Maltese family-occupied palazzina.
Interest has increased, as these houses have nearly all become banks, offices, shops and, more recently, boutique hotels.
When did you begin writing poetry and what, in general, inspires your poems?
As is the case with music - and, indeed painting and prose - not everything produced is of equal value. I remember when I was a member of the Cheltenham Poetry Society, which was peppered with Oxford Dons and a good number of other intellectuals, one brilliant poet saying to me: "Nicholas, some of the worst poems were produced with the sincerest intentions." He also said: "Nicholas, your adjectives are very weak." I almost stopped writing, but he encouraged me on and I have learned to harness inspiration and not to get lost in emotion unless I particularly want to use it for my own ends.
This month you will be reading your poetry at the event Folly, Fantasy and Feeling. What can the audience expect from this evening?
Essentially, I hope it will be a good evening's entertainment. I suppose I have concocted the programme with a special emphasis on Malta quite a lot of the time. We even have one piece in a muddle of both languages simultaneously: how often have we heard: "ciao, kif int, alright?"
To purchase tickets for Folly, Fantasy and Feeling, being held on the 27th February, visit https://booking.teatrumanoel.com.mt