A book just published in Sicily, Puellae... non donne di provincia by Lucio Luca (Sigma edizioni, 174 pages 12 euro), covers 2000 years of the history of prostitution in Palermo. Inevitably, it also speaks of a Maltese event.

In around 1580, the author says, prostitution in Palermo saw a sudden improvement: the arrival of high-class prostitutes from Malta, exiled on the Pope’s orders so as not to tempt the Knights of St John.

The prostitutes from Malta, Lucio Luca writes, were perfumed, well-dressed and they used to go about on high heels so as not to dirty the borders of their dresses. It is from their zoccole that Sicilian slang henceforth used zoccole to mean prostitutes. In no time at all, these exiles from Malta overcame all competition and installed themselves in the best beds of the town.