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ViGiLO - Din l-Art Ħelwa
ISSUE 54 • NOVEMBER 2020
Remembering a chapter of Valletta’s history
THE THEATRE AT
PALAZZO CARAFA By Vicki Ann Cremona
Imagine yourselves back in 1914. You are standing in a hall in the beautiful Palazzo Carafa in Old Bakery Street, Valletta. The Unione Cattolica di San Giuseppe, forerunner of APS Bank, has just moved out of the building, which later the same year becomes the new premises of the Istituto Italiano Umberto Primo, founded in 1888,1 one of the many schools financed by the Italian state around the world, that follows the Italian syllabi and system of education. The Unione Cattolica di San Giuseppe, one of the very first workers’ associations in Malta, used to organize leisure and educational activities for its members on the premises. Since 1912, thanks to its efforts, the palazzo has become one of the earliest places for the public to watch films, due mainly to the generosity of a businessman, Giovanni Apap, who lent the organization a projector.2
