The story of Corto Maltese<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/h2>\nM<\/span>y name is Corto\u2014Corto Maltese
\nI was born in Malta on July 10, 1887– at least that is what I am told.
\nOf my early childhood I recall a flag full of crosses and a red beard, my father\u2019s. My mother? A gypsy from Seville. She was so beautiful that the painter Ingres fell madly in love with her. (I don\u2019t know if this is true; she never spoke to me about these things.)<\/p>\nI recall a beautiful house and a patio full of flowers–it was close to the mosque in Cordova\u2014and I remember well the day a friend of my mother\u2019s took my left hand and gazed at it in horror: I did not have a Fate Line. I didn\u2019t think about it for long–I took one of my father\u2019s razor blades and cut my own Fate Line, long and deep. I doubt that I increased my dose of luck, but I\u2019ve always been free, and that\u2019s good enough for me.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/cortomaltese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/Corto-Maltese-storia.jpg\")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>My father was always leaving, and over time he came back less and less often. He was from Tintagel, in Cornwall, a place full of fairies and wizards. He claimed to be the grandson of a witch from Man who had a red cat, but then again, he said a lot of things when he got lost in his bottles. I studied at La Valletta Jewish school and then in Cordova with Rabbi Ezra Toledano. It was he who initiated me into the Torah and told me other secret stories.
\nAt any rate, what I remember best is the day I left Malta. I embarked on the Golden Vanity, a magnificent three-masted ship, and ever since then I have been sailing around the world. I have met Rasputin, Jack London, and many others; I learned to dance the tango in Buenos Aires; in the Antilles and Brazil I met Esmeralda and learned about voodoo rituals. Then there were the Indies, China, and the Caribbean islands, with those lazy verandas and shootings; the Pacific Islands, including Escondida–the strangest of them all–among monks and pirates. I saw a train loaded with gold fall into an icy lake in Mongolia; I have shared the desert silences with a warrior, and greenery and tears with a beautiful Irish fairy; and I\u2019ve searched for jewels and impossible dreams along the canals and above the roofs of Venice.
\nI\u2019m not a hero. I like to travel and I don\u2019t care for rules, but I respect just one: I never betray my friends. <\/strong><\/em>
\nI\u2019ve searched for so many treasures and I\u2019ve never found a single one, but I\u2019ll keep looking, you can count on that; just a little bit further on…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1887<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Corto Maltese was born on July 10, 1887 in La Valletta (Malta). His father was an English sailor, originally from Tintagel, in Cornwall. His mother was a gypsy from Seville. His parents met in Gibaltrar, where she went by the name \u201cLa ni\u00f1a de Gibilterra\u201d [\u201cThe Gibaltrar Girl\u201d] e apparently modelled for the painter Ingres (1780-1867).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1887-1903<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Corto Maltese\u2019s childhood is spent in Gibaltrar, then in Cordova where he lives in the Jewish Quarter. He attends La Valletta Jewish School, run by the Rabbi Ezra Toledano (Corto\u2019s mother\u2019s lover when they were both in Cordova). At the time of the Boxer Rebellion (June-August 1900), Corto is in China.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1904<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>At the beginning of the year, at La Valletta, Corto embarks as a sailor on the Golden Vanity; thus he begins his travels. He stops in Egypt, where he visits the pyramids at Giza. In February he reaches Ismailia, and subsequently stops at Aden, Mascate, Karachi, Bombay, Colombo, Madras, Rangoon, Singapore, Kowloon, Shanghai and Tien\u2019Tsin.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\")
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1904-1905<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Around the end of 1904, during the time of the Russo-Japanese War (February 1904-September 1905), Corto arrives in Manchuria. In Mukden, now called Shenyang, he spends time with the Song family; becomes a friend of the American writer Jack London, who is a war correspondent at the time; and meets Rasputin, a young deserter of a regiment of Siberian riflemen. Corto and Rasputin reach Tien\u2019Tsin together and embark on a voyage to Africa in search of the gold mines of Dankalia. The story \u201cLa giovinezza\u201d<\/strong><\/em> [The Early Years] tells about this period.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1905-1906<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>In the Celebes Sea, a mutiny takes place on board the ship. Corto and Rasputin, picked up by a merchant ship, reach Valparaiso in Chile and from there, by train, they arrive in Santiago and then in Argentina in 1905. In Cholila, Patagonia, they meet the North American outlaws Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and Etta Place.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1906-1907<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Corto\u2019s travels begin again. In 1907 he is in Ancona, where he meets the revolutionary Russian Dzugasvili, at the time a hotel porter, but who will become Stalin. In 1908, Corto returns to Argentina, and at the Drowning Maud Hotel<\/em><\/strong>, meets Jack London and the American playwright Eugene O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>1908-1913<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>In 1909, Corto is in Marseilles, then in Trieste, where he meets the writer James Joyce. \u00a0In 1910, he\u2019s second in command of the Bostonian, which transports livestock between Boston and Liverpool. In 1911 he arrives in Tunisia, and in the same year he sets sail for Argentina, but stops off in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and spends a good while at Itapoa. In the same period he travels to the Antilles, New Orleans, India, and China in 1913.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
M<\/span>y name is Corto\u2014Corto Maltese I recall a beautiful house and a patio full of flowers–it was close to the mosque in Cordova\u2014and I remember well the day a friend of my mother\u2019s took my left hand and gazed at it in horror: I did not have a Fate Line. I didn\u2019t think about it for long–I took one of my father\u2019s razor blades and cut my own Fate Line, long and deep. I doubt that I increased my dose of luck, but I\u2019ve always been free, and that\u2019s good enough for me.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> My father was always leaving, and over time he came back less and less often. He was from Tintagel, in Cornwall, a place full of fairies and wizards. He claimed to be the grandson of a witch from Man who had a red cat, but then again, he said a lot of things when he got lost in his bottles. I studied at La Valletta Jewish school and then in Cordova with Rabbi Ezra Toledano. It was he who initiated me into the Torah and told me other secret stories. 1887<\/p>\n<\/div> Corto Maltese was born on July 10, 1887 in La Valletta (Malta). His father was an English sailor, originally from Tintagel, in Cornwall. His mother was a gypsy from Seville. His parents met in Gibaltrar, where she went by the name \u201cLa ni\u00f1a de Gibilterra\u201d [\u201cThe Gibaltrar Girl\u201d] e apparently modelled for the painter Ingres (1780-1867).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1887-1903<\/p>\n<\/div> Corto Maltese\u2019s childhood is spent in Gibaltrar, then in Cordova where he lives in the Jewish Quarter. He attends La Valletta Jewish School, run by the Rabbi Ezra Toledano (Corto\u2019s mother\u2019s lover when they were both in Cordova). At the time of the Boxer Rebellion (June-August 1900), Corto is in China.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1904<\/p>\n<\/div> At the beginning of the year, at La Valletta, Corto embarks as a sailor on the Golden Vanity; thus he begins his travels. He stops in Egypt, where he visits the pyramids at Giza. In February he reaches Ismailia, and subsequently stops at Aden, Mascate, Karachi, Bombay, Colombo, Madras, Rangoon, Singapore, Kowloon, Shanghai and Tien\u2019Tsin.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1904-1905<\/p>\n<\/div> Around the end of 1904, during the time of the Russo-Japanese War (February 1904-September 1905), Corto arrives in Manchuria. In Mukden, now called Shenyang, he spends time with the Song family; becomes a friend of the American writer Jack London, who is a war correspondent at the time; and meets Rasputin, a young deserter of a regiment of Siberian riflemen. Corto and Rasputin reach Tien\u2019Tsin together and embark on a voyage to Africa in search of the gold mines of Dankalia. The story \u201cLa giovinezza\u201d<\/strong><\/em> [The Early Years] tells about this period.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1905-1906<\/p>\n<\/div> In the Celebes Sea, a mutiny takes place on board the ship. Corto and Rasputin, picked up by a merchant ship, reach Valparaiso in Chile and from there, by train, they arrive in Santiago and then in Argentina in 1905. In Cholila, Patagonia, they meet the North American outlaws Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and Etta Place.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1906-1907<\/p>\n<\/div> Corto\u2019s travels begin again. In 1907 he is in Ancona, where he meets the revolutionary Russian Dzugasvili, at the time a hotel porter, but who will become Stalin. In 1908, Corto returns to Argentina, and at the Drowning Maud Hotel<\/em><\/strong>, meets Jack London and the American playwright Eugene O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> 1908-1913<\/p>\n<\/div> In 1909, Corto is in Marseilles, then in Trieste, where he meets the writer James Joyce. \u00a0In 1910, he\u2019s second in command of the Bostonian, which transports livestock between Boston and Liverpool. In 1911 he arrives in Tunisia, and in the same year he sets sail for Argentina, but stops off in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and spends a good while at Itapoa. In the same period he travels to the Antilles, New Orleans, India, and China in 1913.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nI was born in Malta on July 10, 1887– at least that is what I am told.
\nOf my early childhood I recall a flag full of crosses and a red beard, my father\u2019s. My mother? A gypsy from Seville. She was so beautiful that the painter Ingres fell madly in love with her. (I don\u2019t know if this is true; she never spoke to me about these things.)<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nAt any rate, what I remember best is the day I left Malta. I embarked on the Golden Vanity, a magnificent three-masted ship, and ever since then I have been sailing around the world. I have met Rasputin, Jack London, and many others; I learned to dance the tango in Buenos Aires; in the Antilles and Brazil I met Esmeralda and learned about voodoo rituals. Then there were the Indies, China, and the Caribbean islands, with those lazy verandas and shootings; the Pacific Islands, including Escondida–the strangest of them all–among monks and pirates. I saw a train loaded with gold fall into an icy lake in Mongolia; I have shared the desert silences with a warrior, and greenery and tears with a beautiful Irish fairy; and I\u2019ve searched for jewels and impossible dreams along the canals and above the roofs of Venice.
\nI\u2019m not a hero. I like to travel and I don\u2019t care for rules, but I respect just one: I never betray my friends. <\/strong><\/em>
\nI\u2019ve searched for so many treasures and I\u2019ve never found a single one, but I\u2019ll keep looking, you can count on that; just a little bit further on…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
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