WHAT DOES VICTORY TASTE LIKE?

Turkish bombardment of Birgu

Both the Christian defenders and the Ottoman attackers were utterly exhausted. After months of fighting under the blazing summer sun, they had suffered heavy losses. Supplies were running dangerously low for both sides, and desperation was setting in. To try to break the spirits of the knights and the Maltese, who were holed up behind the battered walls of Fort St Michael and Fort St Angelo, the Ottomans decided to play mind games.

The siege diarist, Balbi di Correggio, recorded an unusual event: Ottoman soldiers offered a Christian soldier named Martelli some melons and oranges, attempting to show off that they had plenty of food. But instead of being scared, Martelli played a smart trick. He sent back bread and cheese, making the Ottomans believe that the defenders still had plenty of food and were not as desperate as they thought.

The Ottomans couldn’t wait around much longer. They didn’t want their fleet to be wrecked by the dangerous autumn storms. By early September, the curtain was slowly falling on the Great Siege. Both sides were worn down, and the Ottomans, who had been expecting to win quickly, were losing hope.

In Sicily, meanwhile, a rescue mission was being prepared. The Christian defenders, led by the brave Grand Master Jean de Valette, had been holding out for months, expecting reinforcements to arrive.

Finally, after weeks of planning and several setbacks due to bad weather, the relief force—known as the Gran Soccorso—set sail again on September 6. The Gran Soccorso was a formidable force made up ofaround 8,500 men, including Spanish and Italian soldiers, as well as warriors from Florence, Genoa, the Papal States, and Savoy. Led by the experienced Spaniard Don Alvaro de Sante, and supported by skilled commanders like Ascanio della Corgna, Pompeo Colonna, Paolo Sforza, and Chiappino Vitelli, they were ready to bring much-needed help to the defenders of Malta.

After a challenging voyage, the fleet of 58 galleys arrived off the coast of Gozo and sheltered from rough seas. The next day, they successfully landed their troops in Malta at Ċirkewwa, Marfa, and Armier. Around the table, Don Garcia, Prince Doria, and other dignitaries from the Gran Soccorso joined the surviving knights in a triumphant supper.

Some of the ingredients on the table of this 1565 celebration may have included the Chablis Burgundy wine, ordered by de Valette to mark the official end of the Ottoman invasion, along with pecorino cheese, salted pork salami, and a 16th-century version of galleti (Maltese crackers) made from water, semolina, and flour baked in wood-fired ovens. What to us may appear as a rather modest meal for such an extraordinary occasion, must have looked fabulous on that day. After months of surviving on very little food, the Knights’ stomachs must have rumbled, and their mouth watered at the sight of all these tasty treats on the Grand Master’s dinner table.

This feast was not just a meal but a celebration of resilience, bravery, and a turning point for all of Christendom. The defenders had withstood one of the most relentless sieges in history, and with the arrival of the Gran Soccorso, they had achieved a hard-fought victory that would be remembered for centuries.