Fortunato Mizzi

Fortunato Mizzi (5 July 1844 – 18 May 1905) was a Maltese lawyer and politician.

Biography Born of Francesco Mizzi and Marianna Galea, Mizzi was a member of the Pro-Italian Maltese community and showed in his political activity strong support toward Italy's Risorgimento and in defence of the official use of the Italian language and of Italian culture in Malta.

In 1871 Fortunato Mizzi married Maria Sofia (Marie Sophie) Folliero de Luna (1847–1903), daughter of Giuseppe, vice-consul of Naples. They had a son in 1885 by the name of Enrico (Nerik) who in 1950 became Prime Minister of Malta shortly before dying.

Memory

A lapide (plaque) with an epitaph to the memory of Fortunato Mizzi was placed at Mizzi’s former house at 15 Old Mint Street, Valletta, in 1922. The plaque was inaugurated in 1922 by then-Prime Minister Joseph Howard in the presence of Sir Filippo Sciberras, other members of the National Assembly and a very large crowd of supporters. The epitaph, in Italian, mentioned Fortunato Mizzi having lived and died in that house and exalted his many virtues and his dedication towards the national cause. It carried a bronze effigy of Mizzi in a roundel made by the Russian émigré sculptor Boris Edwards.

A bust of Fortunato Mizzi, inaugurated in 1940, can be seen in the Pincio gardens in Rome alongside the one of Pasquale Paoli.

On 8 June 1940, an anti-Italian protest, stirred by the unveiling of the bust of Fortunato Mizzi at the Pincio gardens in Rome the day before, destroyed the plaque in Valletta.

In the 1950s, a third plaque was made to Fortunato Mizzi to replace the one vandalised in 1940, and this remains until today in Old Mint Street, Valletta.