Strada Stretta

Strada Stretta is a Maltese television series featuring on Television Malta from 2015 till 2016. The first episode was released on September 28, 2015^[1] and since the start generated a nostalgic feeling among the Maltese.^[2] As the name implies the setting of the series takes place in Strada Stretta, a historic street in Valletta, the capital of Malta.^[3] The series takes the viewers to the social and historical realities in 1957 with a plot based on what the series portrays as being on a (pseudo) diary found in 2015 during refurbishing in a pub in the street.^[4] The actual setting is based on history books while the story of the series is based on contextual creativity.^[5] Statistics show that approximately 112,000 Maltese people watch the series that is equivalent to more than a quarter of the population of Malta.^[6]

Plot

The series is set in Strada Stretta, which was Valletta's red light district

Historic street signs/adverts/posts

Sylvana a young business woman in 2015 is refurbishing an old bar in Strada Stretta (English: Strait Street, Maltese: Triq id-Dejqa), a street in Valletta which was formerly infamous for being the city's red light district. During the renovations, a personal diary that belonged to a woman (Lydia) in 1957, is found.^[7] Lydia's diary transport the series's viewers back to 1957 when she takes the decision to leave her gilded cage and controlling mother in search of a better life with her lover, leaving a life of luxury behind her for the freedom she yearns for.^[8]

However when she finds herself stranded and abandoned in Valletta she befriends Lilly, a bubbly young barmaid who works and lives in the street, who hosts her in return of giving her reading and writing lessons. Strait Street is shown in its former glory when prostitution and murder were commonly associated with the street making it infamous with conservative values at the time. We meet many other personalities, real or fictitious who take us back to this cultural and musical mecca.^{[9][10][11][12]}

References