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Why were people from Qormi called ‘sa nofsinhar’?
Qormi’s got a long history of breadmaking.

Francesca Xuereb

Each locality throughout Malta has its own nicknames related to their history or landscape – and Qormi is no exception. The people of Qormi used to be known as sa nofsinhar (‘till noon’).

Why?

It is said that since most of Qormi’s residents were bakers, they would work all night, sell bread in the morning and then rest in the afternoon – only to start again the next night.

While bakeries were widespread across the Maltese Islands, Qormi was the most popular locality for bread-making. In fact, the locality was – and still is – the provider of the bulk of Malta’s bread, with over 40% of Maltese bakeries being based in Qormi.

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A post shared by Tal-Ħajbu (@talhajbu)

Qormi has alternate titles, some of which are more known than others, such as Città Pinto, Casal Curmi, and Casal Fornaro. The latter, translating to ‘village of bakers’, was given to the locality during the rule of the Knights of Malta. This reference was first made in the written account of Reverend Salvatore Imbroll, who accompanied the Grand Master Antoine de Paule who visited Qormi for the feast of St George in 1623.

Did you know about this?

@miller_baker/Instagram @talhajbu/Instagram

1st August 2022


Francesca Xuereb
Written by
Francesca Xuereb
Equipped with puns and references galore, Francesca is a writer who's interested in almost anything and everything. When not creating or consuming memes, she can probably be found listening to music, playing video games, reading, and going down endless Internet rabbit holes.

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