Paper trail retraces a 400-year-old murder

When Nicolao Ciardo left a Sicilian merchant dead and naked on a Vittoriosa street, he hopped from one Cottonera church to another seeking protection, according to one of the oldest murder chronicles in Malta.
On the day of the murder, documented in 1637, shipmaster Ciardo and the victim had lunch together. After dumping the nude corpse later that night, Ciardo sought refuge in various churches – starting with the Greek and moving to the Carmelite and the Capuchin Friary.
He tried to make use of ecclesiastical immunity but was caught trying to embark a ship at the harbour and was arrested 1,000 steps away from the friary.
This account was recently discovered in a document at the Notarial Archives in St Christopher Street, Valletta, where a team of experts is conserving the documents through a sponsorship programme called Adopt a Notary.

The document records a dispute between the Bishop’s Court and the Gran Corte della Castellania, both of which claimed that a murder case involving a Sicilian merchant and a patron was to be adjudicated by their court.

Historian and founder of the Notarial Archives Resource Council Joan Abela told this newspaper that some of the volumes at the...