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Villa Bologna is a Maltese stately home, in the village of Attard in the central district of Malta. Built in opulent Baroque style, Villa Bologna has been called "the most beautiful 18th century country house to be built for a Maltese family"Nicholas de Piro, quoted in The Times of Malta, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, p. 14. and "of similar grandeur to the finest palaces on the island".Harrison Smith and Adrianus Koster, Lord Strickland Servant of the Crown, Volume 1, Progress Press, Valletta 1984, p. 16.
Villa Bologna is as interesting for its history as it is remarkable for its architecture and gardens which, after the neighbouring San Anton Gardens, is the largest historic gardens in Malta. Once the seat of the Counts della Catena, Villa Bologna is now held by the great-grandson of the 6th count Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland.Burke's Peerage (2003) volume 1, page 1076
Built during the rule of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and expanded during the British colonial period, Villa Bologna was central in the artistic, cultural, social and political history of Malta. It is a Grade 1 scheduled building and is a national monument.
History
Villa Bologna was constructed, by Fabrizio Grech, in 1745 as a gift for his daughter Maria Teresa Grech on her marriage to Nicholas Perdicomati Bologna, later the 2nd Count della Catena.p.398 Fabrizio Grech was both sindaco of the Maltese Università and uditore, or advisor, to Grand Master Pinto.Charles Gauci, The Genealogy of the Noble Families of Malta, Volume 1, Gulf Publishing, Valletta 1981, p. 89. By virtue of these offices, especially of the latter one, Grech became an immensely wealthy and influential man. A story, much repeated but never substantiated, has it that he was provoked into building a residence of surpassing beauty and magnificence for his daughter by aspersions cast by his new in-laws on his social standing. This is unlikely. In the first place, the Perdicomati Bolognas were no family of ancient title; the first count was ennobled barely three months before his son married Maria Teresa Grech.Charles Gauci, The Genealogy of the Noble Families of Malta, Volume 1, Gulf Publishing, Valletta 1981, p. 82. Secondly, a man like Grech, whose influence over the Grand Master was such that the Grand Master had full trust in him,Frans Ciappara, The Roman Inquisition in Enlightened Malta, Malta : Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2000, p. 155. who was known for his overbearing mannerFrans Ciappara, The Roman Inquisition in Enlightened Malta, Malta : Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2000, p. 156. and who commanded resources sufficient to build a mansion on the scale of Villa Bologna, was hardly likely to feel inferior to a count minted barely three months before the marriage alliance between their families. There is also some evidence to indicate that Grech and his daughter's father-in-law were very close associates indeed.See the account of the Bologna-Testaferrata lawsuit in Dr. John Attard Montalto, A Belligerent Vicar-General and the Bologna Dynasty, The Sunday Times of Malta, 2 May 2004, p. 41. Whatever the case may be, Nicholas Perdicomati Bologna and Maria Teresa Grech were married on 25 April 1745Charles Gauci, The Genealogy of the Noble Families of Malta, Volume 1, Gulf Publishing, Valletta 1981, p. 88. and they were given this "fabulous villa" as a wedding present.Dr. John Attard Montalto, A Belligerent Vicar-General and the Bologna Dynasty, The Sunday Times of Malta, 2 May 2004, p. 41. Nicholas was succeeded by his daughter Maria Giovanna Perdicomati Bologna (the 3rd Countess) and, later, by his youngest daughter Angela Perdicomati Bologna (the 4th Countess). Angela married Baron Sciberras and the title, together with entail and the Villa passed on to their son Nicholas Sciberras Bologna in 1798. After the death without issue of Nicholas Sciberras Bologna, 5th Count della Catena, in 1875, protracted litigation between the putative heirs of the 5th Count was resolved in 1882 when the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council awarded the title and lands, including Villa Bologna to Gerald Strickland, the great-grandson of Angela Perdicomati Bologna and her husband Baron Sciberras.Harrison Smith and Adrianus Koster, Lord Strickland Servant of the Crown, Volume 1, Progress Press, Valletta 1984, chapter 1.
Gerald Strickland, now Gerald Bologna Strickland 6th Count della Catena, later also raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Strickland of Sizergh,The London Gazette: no. 33349. p. 438. 20 January 1928. Retrieved 2 August 2014. was to usher in a new age for Villa Bologna. The 6th Count, more usually known as Lord Strickland, was probably the most politically influential native of Malta in its history. The son of Walter Strickland, a British naval officer of a family of landholding gentry descended in part from the Plantagenet and Norman kings through Edward III, Lord Strickland had a spectacular political career and held many political offices in both Malta and around the British Empire. At one point he even held simultaneously the office of Leader of the Opposition in Malta as well as that of Conservative MP for Lancaster in the UK's House of Commons. Later he was elected Head of Ministry (office equivalent to that of Prime Minister) of Malta as well. By that time, he had resigned his seat from the British House of Commons to take up a seat in the House of Lords upon his elevation to the peerage as Baron Strickland of Sizergh. He was also appointed governor of a number of British colonies, the only colonial ever to hold such an office. Such was the stature of the man that he was acclaimed as "Pater Patriae"The Times of Malta, Saturday, 24 August 1940. (Father of his Fatherland/Father of his Country) by the people of Malta, a title harking back to Republican and Imperial Rome and one of great resonance in the Latin culture of Malta. Lord Strickland also made two highly advantageous marriages. In 1890, Lord Strickland married Lady Edeline Sackville-West, the daughter of the 7th Earl de la Warr. Lady Edeline gave him eight children, including the Hon. Mary Constance Strickland, the Hon. Cecilia Victoria Strickland and the Hon. Mabel Edeline Strickland. Of the two boys born to Lord Strickland, neither survived infancy. During these years, Lord Strickland held numerous governorships of British colonies around the British Empire and, while the family was absent from Villa Bologna, he generously allowed an order of religious nuns to occupy the villa until the family should return to Malta.Shirley Jackewicz Johnston, Splendor of Malta, Rizzoli International Publications, New York 2001, p. 195. Lady Edeline died in 1918. In 1926, Lord Strickland married Margaret Hulton, daughter of the newspaper magnate Edward Hulton.Harrison Smith and Adrianus Koster, Lord Strickland Servant of the Crown, Volume 1, Progress Press, Valletta 1984 & Harrison Smith and Adrianus Koster, Lord Strickland Servant of the Crown, Volume 2, Progress Press, Valletta 1986. It was Lady Strickland who was to modernise Villa Bologna and, together with her friend Count Giuseppe Teuma Castelletti, she extended the gardens far beyond their original limits, raised the walls of the property and decorated them with crenels. She added turrets, planted hundreds of trees and many exotic species, and laid out fountains and ponds of unique character and beauty.Property and Construction Supplement, Times of Malta, Wednesday, 15 January 2014, p. 8. If Fabrizio Grech had built a fabulous villa, it was Lady Strickland who was to transform it into a horticultural paradise.
In 1940, Lord Strickland died and, for the first time since its construction, the ownership of Villa Bologna was estranged from the Catena title. The title passed on to the son of Lord Strickland's eldest daughter, the Hon. Mary Constance Horneyold Strickland while Villa Bologna passed on to Gerald Edmund Hubert de Trafford(1929-2015), the eldest son of the Hon. Cecilia Victoria Strickland and her husband Captain Hubert de Trafford. In 1971, Gerald married Helena Catherina Charlotte Hallo (b. 1945) and they had two children – Dr Aloisia Cecilia Mary de Trafford (b. 1973) and Jasper Peter Paul Sybrand de Trafford (b. 1975).
After the death of Gerald in 2015, his son, Jasper, who had been managing the estate since 2009, inherited Villa Bologna and is now the current holder of the Villa, the seventh of his line to hold it. Jasper married Fleur Cecilia Kate de Trafford (b. 1978) and they had two sons, Cosmo Benedict Randolphus (b. 2011) and Montague Francis Humphrey (b. 2013). Design The architect of Villa Bologna is unknown but an attempt has been made to attribute this design to Domenico Cachia, capomastro della Fondazione Manoel. This is because the design of Selmun Palace, which is very similar in places to that of Villa Bologna, too has been attributed to Cachia. However, this attribution is unproven and tentative at best.Leonard Mahoney, A History of Maltese Architecture from Ancient Times up to 1800, Veritas Press, Malta 1988, p. 289. Current research indicates that Andrea Belli, who was an architect involved in the reconstruction of the Auberge de Castille between 1741 and 1744), may be responsible for Villa Bologna. This possibility may appear remote but a certain similarity between the Auberge de Castille and Villa Bologna, as well as the dates of Castille's reconstruction (1741-1744Leonard Mahoney, A History of Maltese Architecture from Ancient Times up to 1800, Veritas Press, Malta 1988, p. 299, 325 (15a).), just a year prior to the construction of Villa Bologna, support this hypothesis. Moreover, Andrea Belli's brother was a colleague of Fabrizio GrechFrans Ciappara, The Roman Inquisition in Enlightened Malta, Malta : Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2000, p. 159 & p. 174. and this same brother appears to have colluded substantially with Fabrizio Grech and the Perdicomati Bolognas in the Bologna-Testaferrata case.Frans Ciappara, The Roman Inquisition in Enlightened Malta, Malta : Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, 2000, p. 183. These close links between the principal characters of the story and Andrea Belli offer strong circumstantial evidence that Belli was, indeed, the architect of Villa Bologna. Confirmation, however, requires further research. Nonetheless, this evidence linking one of the most imposing, majestic and lavish palaces ever erected by the Knights of Malta with Villa Bologna gives some insight into the character of Fabrizio Grech. It also speaks volumes about the extent of his influence and his wealth.
The villa is constructed on a basic quadrilateral plan, the footprint of which is approximately 440 metres2. Nonetheless, there are numerous wings and extensions to the main building, some of which even antedate the main building itself. These include an older villa, an old farmhouse and a side-wing stretching from the south-west corner of the main villa to the Nymphaeum. There were an aviary and a mill room on one side of this fountain and an aviary and a tower on the other side. Another extension along the west façade was constructed by Lady Strickland. This is a mezzanine that allowed for the extension of the main dining room and the addition of some staff accommodation. The villa is built in the Baroque style, with some discernible Neo-Classical influences here and there.
Exterior