Cultural news with Jose Herrera

Jose Herrera, parliamentary secretary for culture

Parliamentary secretaries Michael Falzon and Jose Herrera (because they all need to get in on each other’s act, all the time) called a press conference today to say that a house in which the painter Mattia Preti lived, in Valletta in the 17th century, is up for offers.

Times of Malta reports:

Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera said Mattia Preti, known as il Cavaliere Calabrese, was born in a tavern in 1613.

That’s hysterical. Preti was actually born in Taverna, a town in Calabria. It’s exactly the sort of cringe-making error that the u-ejja-ha-mmorru Herrera would make, but we’re going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt, because he was speaking Maltese and the (understandable) mistake might have been the reporter’s – lost in translation, as they say:

“Mattia Preti twieled f’Taverna…”