The question was formulated spontaneously on Friday when a good crowd of guests turned up at the Auberge de Castille for the launch of a book.

What was the Office of the Prime Minister thinking about when it sponsored the glossy publication of the first volume of a book written by a supporter of the Fascist Party in the 1930s at such a delicate time in Malta’s political history?

But suspicious minds were quickly allayed: even if the author was an ardent supporter of the Fascist cause, and his visits to Malta in the 1930s were sponsored by the Fascist government, his findings turned the whole Fascist ideology about Malta on its head: while the Fascists said that Malta had derived its civilization from Italy, this book, Origins of Mediterranean Civilisation by Italian archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini (1895–1936) said that it was the Maltese civilization which predated that of the rest of the Mediterranean and thus that Italian civilization derived from the Maltese one.

Besides, there is no hidden political agenda behind the publication of the book by Midsea Publications and its launch at Castille. The re-publication is the culmination of 12 years of hard work by a Maltese researcher, Dr Nicholas Vella, and an Italian, Andrea Passina.

What is really interesting about this series, beyond the intrinsic value of the document, will be found when Volume Three is published later on this year. This volume speaks about the minor Neolithic temples of Malta and it is reported it will have photos of a Neolithic temple now buried under Mount Magħtab.

Ugolini visited Malta on several occasions between 1924 and 1935 to study the megalithic monuments of the archipelago. In the course of his work, Ugolini, an able photographer and acute observer, gathered together a large number of photographs, illustrations, notes, and reports dedicated to the prehistoric temples and the archaeological objects found within. The Italian scholar wanted to prove in an unequivocal manner the Neolithic date of the megalithic temples of Malta and to assert the important role that Malta had in giving birth to Mediterranean civilization (ex Medio lux).

The work of Ugolini was interrupted by his sudden death that occurred just before the publication of the series of volumes (Malta Antica), which he had planned. The main theories of the Italian archaeologist were put forward in 1934 in the volume Malta. Origine della civiltà mediterranea. The monograph represents a seminal part of Ugolini’s archaeological thought and is a necessary premise to the final publication of his precious archive.

Held in Rome at the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico ‘Luigi Pigorini’, the archive has been re-discovered thanks to a collaborative Italo-Maltese project and will be published shortly by Midsea Books.

The text of Malta. Origine della civiltà mediterranea is being re-published together with an English translation and is preceded by a comprehensive introduction that allows the reader to place Ugolini’s work in the context of the tormented political scenario of the time.

Speaking at the launch, Judge Giovanni Bonello described the cultural and political context of Malta in the 1930s when the British colonial power, forgetting that Malta was already civilized when the English were the ‘savages of the North’, tried to bring the Maltese to heel by downplaying Maltese nationalistic ideas and aspirations. This effort, helped and abetted by the colonial power, was spearheaded in Malta by Lord Strickland.

Resistance in Malta was spearheaded by the Nationalists who promoted Maltese civilization as derived from the Romans and based on Christian values.

The British, on the contrary, portrayed Malta and Britain as being both derived from the Phoenicians with Maltese being a distant relative of Arabic.

Ugolini, who was a top archaeologist, was sent to Malta by the Italian Fascist administration.

He came at a time when Themistocles Zammit was excavating the Tarxien temples, the hypogeum and other Neolithic remains. The photographs in the book are crystal clear and show a Malta that no longer exists (like the Edward Caruana Dingli paintings, mused Minister Mario de Marco at the launch) and also parts of the temples that have since disappeared.

Malta, according to Ugolini, was civilized by the temple-builders much before Babylon, long before the pyramids in Egypt. Thus Malta was the cradle of the civilization of the surrounding countries.

Predictably, Ugolini was ridiculed by the pro-British faction. John D Evans, (after whom the Evans Lab building is named) wrote a whole chapter on Ugolini ridiculing him and adducing a Carbon 14 dating which showed the temples dated from 1600 BC, not 4,000 BC. But it was later found that the Carbon 14 test had been wrongly calibrated and Ugolini was thus vindicated.

Prime Minister Gonzi wrapped up the evening, describing the book as an important discovery of Maltese heritage. Superintendent of Cultural Heritage Nathaniel Cutajar and Dr Nicholas Vella also took part in the launch.