Cultural Heritage Stories Booklet | Page 6

Sumea El Raes and Lorraine Xiberras It was a beautiful ordinary day in Victoria. Anastasia was helping her mother cooking lunch for her family. Her brothers and sisters were playing together outside, they were still too young to help with the chores. As they were preparing the table, Anastasia suddenly heard loud noises. She rushed to her window and the view startled her. She saw people running for their lives from their homes, Historical Note: The Invasion of Gozo took place in July 1551, and was accomplished by the Ottoman Empire against the island of Gozo, following an unsuccessful attempt to conquer nearby Malta on 18 July 1551. About 300 people escaped from the Citadel by climbing down its walls and hid from the Ottomans. The other 6,000 people, including Governor de Sessa and the Knights, were taken captive and ended up in slavery, being sailed to Tripoli on 30 July. The Ottomans only spared a monk and forty elderly Gozitans. A street in the Citadel named after Bernardo Dupuo. According to legend, one of the defenders named Bernardo Dupuo (also known as Bernardo da Fonte or de Opuo) fought bravely when Ottomans breached the city walls, and killed his own wife and two daughters preferring death over slavery before he himself was killed by the invading forces. A street in the Citadel is named after him, and outside his house lies a plaque commemorating his death. 1