Memories 1988 – 2017 By Peter Apap Bologna

The third volume of Peter Apap Bologna’s autobiography takes us from 1988, when he was 47, to the present day. He celebrated his 76th birthday at a stylish lunch with close friends just a few weeks before the publication of this book. Peter had started to prepare for his return to Malta in 1988, after fifteen years abroad. The overriding factor that triggered his return to Malta was the change of government in Malta after sixteen years of regressive socialist rule that had precipitated his departure in the first place. In the opening chapter of this volume, he describes well the surge of optimism that had swept Eddie Fenech Adami and his Nationalist Party into power on 12 May 1987. That victory changed the face of Malta and can be seen, thirty years later, to have been – together with Malta’s accession to the European Union in 2004 to which it led – the pivotal event in the country’s post-Independence history. Perhaps the most striking and endearing aspect of this volume of memoirs is the spirit of optimism that Peter exudes. His book starts with a quotation by Winston Churchill: “I am an optimist. It does not seem much use being anything else.” It has been Peter’s good fortune to be born with a positive outlook on life. He can always see a glass half full, not half empty. It is not a natural Maltese quality and all the more appealing for that. Optimism is the golden thread running through this story. For, while there are many happy moments in this book, Peter also tells, honestly and without rancour, of several sadnesses and setbacks since his return to Malta. His share of business problems, too, are not shirked or down-played. But despite misfortunes, Peter recovers to face life’s challenges without vindictiveness or any trace of self-pity. The centerpiece of this book – and his lasting legacy to Maltese perceptions of art – is his founding of the Melitensia Art Gallery, in Lija in the autumn of 1988. Before it closed eleven years later, it became the focus for the best and most exciting exhibitions of Maltese and foreign paintings of Malta. It set standards of presentation in a public gallery in Malta of paintings, old maps and prints of Malta, as well as book collections, which have never been bettered. The exhibitions were stylishly presented and. the book is packed with photographs of many of the exhibitions and the beautiful paintings that were on display. Hardcover. Published at the Salesian Press 2017