Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1311619
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS while allowing the heir and vendor to live on the property and benefit from the weddings operations. "In other words the prospective purchaser would be buying into a prop- erty without any prospect of turning over any income." She called the valuation 'ridicu- lous'. The house is currently leased out for receptions and wed- dings, while seven apartments from the estate are leased out to foreign lessees who live there, apart from a shop and café, and a pottery shop. "This has all rendered good income to my brother since my father's death, which he has only kept for himself and I see no reason why I should not receive 8% interest on my reserved portion once he has enjoyed the income from the various leases to date." On his part, Jasper de Traf- ford has also doubted the va- lidity of a 30-year, renewable lease his father would have given to his sister in 2013 on the garden home at Villa Bo- logna. "As you know, I inherited Vil- la Bologna with no capital and considerable debt from resto- ration projects at the Villa. Vil- la Bologna is also very expen- sive to run with ever increasing staff and restoration costs. There is now also mounting interest on unpaid transfer duties and I need to be able to raise finance to settle these as soon as possible," Jasper wrote to his sister in November 2019. In a reply from her lawyers in January 2020, Aloisia de Traf- ford accused her brother of re- fusing to recognise the garden house lease as way of procras- tinating in getting a reasonable valuation of the estate. "De- spite Jasper having had almost five years to come up with a serious valuation of the entire estate, and payment of the por- tion to Aloisia.... Jasper and his legal team have hidden behind their non-recognition of the said lease as a reason to put the whole matter on hold." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt The grandest of Malta's stately homes: Villa Bologna was the home of the redoubtable Gerald Strickland, interwar prime minister of Malta and the sixth Count of Catena The Counts of Catena are a noble house of Malta. Hen- ry Hornyold Strickland is the 8th Count of Catena. The title was granted to Pietro Gae- tano Perdicomati-Bologna, a Syracusean Patrician by Grand Master Pinto de Fon- seca in 1745, with remainder to his descendants and suc- cessors to the Catena estates in perpetuity. Succession in the Perdicomati-Bologna's family came to an end after the death of the 4th Coun- tess Maria Angelica Perdi- comati-Bologna. Sir Nicola Sceberras-Bologna, became the 5th Count, though dying without an heir in 1875. Upon Sir Nicola's death a protracted lawsuit ensued between Feli- cissmo Apap-Bologna and Luisa Bonici-Mompalao for and on behalf of her son. The title of Count of Catena was tied to the Bologna es- tates "primogeniture" and as Felicissmo was the first born male he claimed the estates and title. His claim was up- held twice by the Maltese Courts but this decision was overruled by the privy Coun- cil on 6 February 1882 who awarded to Luisa's son Ger- ald Strickland GCMG, the 6th Count of Catena (pictured). His successor, Thomas Henry Hornyold-Strickland, 7th Count of Catena, was his grandson. He died in 1983 and was suc- ceeded by his son, the present Holder of the title. The Villa later became the home of Strickland's grandson Gerald de Trafford, son of his second daughter, Cecilia. "I inherited Villa Bologna with no capital and considerable debt from restoration projects at the Villa. Villa Bologna is also very expensive to run with ever increasing staff and restoration costs" Jasper de Trafford