Head of Department at UM ‘only non-Italian’ to win Pio Alferano 2021 Award

Keith Sciberras, Art Critic and Head of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta was awarded the Pio Alferano 2021 Award.

Founded in 2012, these awards are intended towards international personalities who have distinguished themselves in the fields of art, culture, environment, entrepreneurship, and the social sector.

“The prize awards lifetime achievement in the fields of art, music, theatre, cinema, journalism, and culture in general. My work on the study of Italian Baroque art, especially that on Caravaggio, was singled out,” Prof. Sciberras said.

“The ceremony brought together scholars and personalities from these sectors. I was particularly honoured to be the only non-Italian selected for the award,” he continued.

An active member of the local arts community, Prof. Sciberras also happens to be the Vice President of the Dante Alighieri Committee of Malta.

This year’s rendition of the Pio Alferano Award was presided over by well-renowned Italian Art Critic Vittorio Sgharbi.

“This award is a baptism, it consecrates Keith as an Italian by choice, because Malta is like Italy,” Mr Sgharbi said.

“The Maltese history of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries is part of the history of Italian art. Keith is smart, good, and generous, and his work unites two nations into one civilisation,” he continued.