I read with interest Cynthia De Giorgio’s interview on The Malta Independent of Monday, 29 June regarding St John’s Co-Cathedral.

Besides a short reference to the chapel of the Langue of Italy restored with the financial assistance of the Italian government which, by the way, was awarded a certificate of merit by Europa Nostra for the high level of works done by Ditta Sante Guido (TMID, Tuesday, 5 July 2007), no mention was made of the rehabilitation of the 16th century Organ housed as well inside the Oratory together with Caravaggio’s Beheading of St John.

I wish to inform and remind your readers that the Organ, manufactured in 1579, is considered to be the oldest Sicilian organ still in existence and therefore is of incommensurable value. The restoration works, for which the Italian government has allocated the sum of e240,000 included the dismantling of all the components of the instruments (excluding the wooden case, which was restored on site), the related documentation and the packing and transportation to the workshop, as well as the restoration of the keyboard, the pedal-board, the metal and wooden pipes and the “Somiere”.

While Fratelli Ruffatti of Padova were entrusted with the actual restoration of the Organ, Professor Paolo Donati was responsible for the inspection and monitoring of the project. MC Restauri was engaged with the restoration of the wooden case.

As the readers can easily conclude, it has been a very complex and delicate intervention that required very highly-skilled experts.

The entire project was coordinated by the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee directed by Dr Ray Bondin and former Minister of Resources and Infrastructure, the Honourable Ninu Zammit, always very active and efficient, and was concluded in 2006. The Organ was jointly inaugurated by the Prime Minister, the Honourable Lawrence Gonzi, and the undersigned on 5 December, 2006, with a concert given by the expert Maestro Francesco Cera who played organ music from the era of Caravaggio written by Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575 –1647), Jean de Macque (1550ca. – 1614) Sebastian Aguilera de Heredia (1561 – 1627), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562 – 1621), William Byrd (1543 – 1623) and Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 – 1643).

Maestro Francesco Cera, invited by St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, studied under the guidance, among others, of Maestro Gustav Leonhardt at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and specialised in organ and clavichord Baroque music.

Soon after the inauguration, the President of St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, Paul A. Attard, expressed the awareness of the Foundation on the importance and need of playing the Organ in order to avoid any potential damage for lack of regular use. President Attard also expressed the deep appreciation of the very substantial contributions of the Italian government towards the preservation and conservation of the Co-Cathedral.

I am pleased to recall these facts not only to remind your readers that the important legacy left by the late Aldo Moro is still very much alive but also to point out that the use of this ancient organ should or could be a good occasion to enable the public to become familiar with the sound of a 16th century organ. To this end and to fulfil the awareness of Mr Attard, I encourage the Foundation to plan the use of this ancient Organ.

Paolo Andrea Trabalza

Italian Ambassador