Carmelo Borg Pisani

• Name — Carmelo Borg Pisani • Allegiance — Kingdom of Italy • Service Branch — SIM • Service Years — 1941–1942 • Born — 10 August 1915 • Birthplace — Senglea, Crown Colony of Malta • Died — 28 November 1942 • Place of death — Corradino Prison, Paola, Crown Colony of Malta • Death Cause — Execution by hanging • Parents — Gaetano Borg Rosina Borg née Pisani • Family — Brothers Fedele Borg (1904–????), Paulo Borg (1910–1994), Sister Beatrice Martinelli née Borg (1912–1997)

Born into a Maltese Nationalist family in Senglea on 10 August 1915, Borg Pisani enrolled as a student at the pro-Italian Umberto I art lyceum in Valletta. In his teens he attended the network of pro-Italian and pro-fascist organisations in Malta: Valletta's Casa del Fascio (headed by professor Umberto Biscottini) and OGIE (Organizzazioni Giovanili Italiane all'Estero), through which he attended youth camps in Italy, such as Campo Dux in Viareggio in 1930 and another camp in Rome in 1932. • Illustration — Carmelo Borg Pisani’s passport application photo before leaving to Rome for his artistic studies (1932). Since Carmelo was only 17, the application was submitted by his father Gaetano. He moved to Italy to attend the Accademia di belle arti di Roma along with other prominent Maltese artists such as Emvin Cremona. He lived in the Italian government-funded "Casa della Redenzione Maltese", where he met other Maltese irredentists, with whom he shared the conviction that the British colonial government was destroying the "Italian soul" of Malta. He also believed that the best opportunity to restore Malta to its original state was to expel the British and unite the island to the Kingdom of Italy. In Rome, Borg Pisani chaired the "Circolo degli Amici della Storia di Malta" and joined the "Comitato d'Azione Maltese", headed by exiled activist Carlo Mallia from the University of Malta. As Director, Borg Pisani took part in the publication in exile of the irredentist newspaper Malta, which had been forbidden by the British colonial authority. • Illustration — Carmelo Borg Pisani (far left) with friends in Rome. Giuseppe Galea (far right) was also a Maltese artist studying in Rome. Borg Pisani was a supporter of Fascism. In 1935, he unsuccessfully tried to embark as a volunteer for the fascist war in Ethiopia. Between 1939 and 1940, he joined the Gruppi Universitari Fascisti and then the Partito Nazionale Fascista.

• Illustration — Carmelo Borg Pisani's PNF Party membership card After the entry of Italy into the Second World War on 10 June 1940, Borg Pisani renounced his British citizenship, returning his British passport through the American embassy (which represented British interests in Rome). Yet he never formally requested nor obtained Italian citizenship, despite later serving in the Italian army. He also wrote a letter to Mussolini to volunteer for service, but was refused by the Italian Army due to his strong myopia. Thanks to recommendations, including Biscottini's, Pisani was admitted into the Blackshirts, the fascist militia, and later also joined the Servizio Informazioni Militari, the military intelligence. With the Blackshirts, he participated in the Italian occupation of Kefallinia in Greece, where he was injured. Together with other Maltese irredentists, he then attended the military school of Messina. • Illustration — Warrant for the execution of Carmelo Borg Pisani On 18 May 1942, Borg Pisani volunteered for an espionage mission to Malta, to check British defences and help prepare for the planned Axis invasion of the island (Operation Herkules). He disembarked at the Dingli Cliffs in Ras id-Dawwara and transferred all his rations to a cave that he knew well from his youth. Unusually inclement weather and a rough sea, however, washed all his possessions away within 48 hours, and he proved unable to climb the cliffs. He was forced to wave down a local boat. Upon rescue by a British patrol boat, he was brought to the naval hospital RNH Mtarfa. There, Borg Pisani was recognized by one of his childhood friends, Cpt. Tom Warrington (1912-1994), who denounced him. British Intelligence kept him under arrest in a house in Sliema till August. He was then transferred to Corradino prison, accused of treason. On 12 November 1942, he stood trial under closed doors in front of three judges, headed by Chief Justice of Malta Sir George Borg, and defended by two lawyers. His plea that he had renounced British citizenship by returning his passport and acquiring Italian citizenship (which would have granted him the status of prisoner of war) was not upheld by the military court. On 19 November 1942, Borg Pisani was sentenced to death for espionage, for taking up arms against the Government and forming part of a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Borg Pisani's brother, Paulo Borg, who was a priest, tried in vain to save Carmelo's life by submitting a petition to the Governor of Malta, John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort and beseeched him to use the prerogative of mercy and to reverse the sentence to long-term or life imprisonment instead of execution. The petition for clemency was denied with a note stating that the Governor "sees no reason to interfere with the course of the law". • Illustration — Excerpt of the Sunday Times of Malta about Borg Pisani's execution His execution by hanging took place at 7:30 am on Saturday, 28 November. Feliċjan Bilocca (1914-1987) was the priest that gave him his last rites and accompanied him to his execution. His remains, initially buried inside Corradino Prison, are now in the ossuary of the cemetery of Paola. According to Mark Harwood, Borg Pisani might have been betrayed by the Italian Fascists themselves, who by sending him alone on an espionage mission to Malta (where he was very likely to be captured and executed) could have been looking for a propaganda coup against the British with the Maltese population at the height of the war — but the plan did not work. Frank Leighton considered him "a gullible victim of fascist Italy's propaganda".

A person similar to Borg Pisani appears in the 1953 film, Malta Story.