Macaroni Castle & Mr. Patel's Museum

On Saturday, November 27, I toured this Italian castle with the Society of Malawi.  It is located on the grounds of the Mapanga Girls Training Base of the Malawi Young Pioneers.  The Young Pioneers provide training for Malawian youth, and they help to maintain the peace by assisting in crowd control at national celebrations. The Sabbatini castle, its official name, has fallen to ruin since there is no organization responsible for its preservation. 

The castle took seven years to build.  Sabbatini had a large tobacco and mixed farming estate at Mapanga.  He was a genius at invention, but unfortunately, was unable to develop many of his ideas. The castle eventually passed into the hands of  the wife of a textile manufacturer named Sauze, who gave it to her husband in exchange for a hotel that he owned in Britain. She came out ahead in the deal.  During the Second World War, Mrs. Sauze negotiated a contract to run an internment camp at the castle for enemy aliens.  The castle was used for women internees, among them a Mrs. and a Miss Sabbatini.  After the war, the castle stood empty until 1976, when the Malawian government bought the grounds.

After the short tour and historical presentation, we were invited to cross the road to Mr. Patel's museum, where everyone was invited to view his African art, map, coin and book collections, and to have a quick snort with Mr. Patel who confessed that he was nursing a scotch hangover from the night before.  Below is another museum visitor who asked me to take his photo with Mr. Patel.

And below is probably the most interesting artifact of Mr. Patel's entire collection.