CASALFORNARO

Today I decided to spend a Lejl f'Casal Fornaro (A Night in Casal Fornaro, which is how the town of Qormi was called at the time of the Knights). The event attracted quite a large crowd and I had to park about 15 minutes away from the town centre. The organizers promised an evening packed with entertainment and cultural activities. People in traditional costumes displayed different tools of antiquity and even livestock, portraying the way of life of our forefathers. The event however revolved around one very important aspect of Maltese culture: bread, the production of which Qormi is well renowned for.

Bread is Malta's staple food and Qormi boasts the largest number of bakeries in the country, several of which still operate in the traditional manner using wood-fired ovens. The name Casal Fornaro is in fact Italian, and means the Baker's Village.

So naturally there couldn't be a shortage of traditional maltese food with the main ingredient obviously being bread: all types of ftira were being served, copiously stuffed with an assortment of mouth-watering fillings - tuna, tomatoes, olives, anchoves, onions, capers, parsley and gbejniet being the most ubiquitous. Bread was also being sold from stalls placed along the narrow streets. Bakeries were open to the public and apart from selling their freshly baked bread they also showed off their furnaces and premises. Some old townhouses were also opened to the public and a few artists showed off their talents in the streets.

From the lively streets of Qormi, I ended underground. Narrow stairs cut in stone lead visitors down to Qormi's air raid shelter, which is found inside the Police Station. Its dug out rooms, furnished with dummies and props in order to purvey a sense of realism, branch out from a narrow central corridor. Humidity is high down here, and a strong musty smell pervades the whole place.

Different rooms have different functions: one room is a makeshift class with blackboard and small desks and chairs, another room is a sort of storage room with food and tools piled up. The biggest room serves as a small clinic. Exhibiting the shelter this way really helps visitors to imagine the sort of life our progenitors lived in such confined spaces, and their willingness to continue life even under the most dire circumstances. Apparently, the show must go on even during war.

What really grabbed my attention was a crucifix jutting out from a pile of rocks and bathed in green light. The artificial light mixed well with the yellowish colour of the Maltese limestone, and I simply had to take a photo.