Antonio Cassar-Torreggiani
Antonio Cassar Torreggiani (1882–1959) is a member of the Cassar-Torreggiani family, one of the most powerful families of the 19th and early 20th centuries whom rose to intermarrying with the Maltese nobility.
Cassar Torreggiani received his education at St Ignatius' College, St. Julian's, before starting on a short period in the Royal Malta Army. During World War I he also served as a member of the food control board.
For many years Cassar Torreggiani was head of the Cassar Company Ltd which owned the St Georges's Flour Mills at Marsa. These premises were bombed and repaired no less than seven times during World War II.
Cassar Torreggiani was also prominent as a banker, serving on the boards of the Banco di Malta and the Anglo-Maltese Bank. When, on the night of April 29, 1941, the premises of both banks were bombed, he housed them for seven months in his own private office in Kingsway, Valletta. In January 1946 these two banks were amalgamated into the National Bank of Malta, and he became the new bank's first chairman.
Cassar Torreggiani was a philanthropist with a great heart. In Żejtun, he joined forces with Bishop Galea to set up the Istituto Nazareno per gli Orfani. In the annals of Maltese sport he is remembered as the creator of one of Malta's most prestigious football competition, the Cassar Cup, proceeds from which were annually directed to local charities. Close to Lm50,000 were donated during its first thirty years.
Between 1924-26 Cassar Torreggiani was elected as one of the two representatives of the Chamber of Commerce in the Senate. He is recorded as having made contacts with the Argentine Minister of Agriculture in that period regarding facilities for Maltese migrants to that country.
He was also very prominent and active in the Chamber of Commerce. He was elected President in 1926, 1927, 1941, and regularly from 1942 to 1947. In 1948 he was elected honorary President for Life.
He was survived by his two sons and his two daughters. The family occupied much of the industrial companies in Malta that brought wealth and many donations to churches, the poor and their employees. They intermarried with much of the rising names of the 19th century, such as Cali, Caruana Dingli, and then into much of the nobility.
References
- Maltese Biographies of the Twentieth Century, 1997 Edition, by M.J Schiavone and L.J Scerri, Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, Malta 1997, Page 166. ISBN 99909-41-36-X