“ | Nobody chose to go there... They chose you. It was surely the only school in the world where there were more teachers than students. There were no holidays, no sports days, no uniforms, no punishments, no visitors, no prizes and no exams. And yet it was, in its own way, a school. You could call it the Eton of murder | ” |
—Yassen Gregorovich's opinions of Malagosto |
‘’’Malagosto’’’ is an island a few miles from Venice, Italy, which is owned by the criminal organization known as Scorpia. Half a mile long and shaped like a crescent moon, the island has a firing range and only six buildings on it. Being that it is mostly covered by wild grass and poplars, it does not stand out against anything. However, in the inside, it is a place of luxury and is surrounded by soundproof walls, closing it off to the outside world. Scorpia bought the lease from the Italian government in the mid-1980s’, and ever since then Scorpia has been using it to train it's agents and assassins.
About[]
John Rider was an instructor there during his deep-cover assignment with SCORPIA, and trained Yassen Gregorovich there.
Alex Rider spent time training there during the Scorpia novel. Julia Rothman had deceived the young spy into believing MI6 had killed his father John Rider, one of their highly skilled assassins, and persuaded Alex into developing his skills alongside the other students of Malagosto.
History[]
During the Middle Ages Malagosto had been a thriving island community. However, during the Genoese war, in 1380, it was ransacked and, and later victims of the plague were taken there for quarantine. When the plague died out it became an official quarantine centre.
In the eighteenth century it was used as a mental institution/sanctuary for the insane, but after a while it was finally abandoned and left to rot.
Scorpia bought the lease from the Italian government in the mid-1980s and use it as their Training and Assessment centre.
Differences in the TV series[]
Season Three[]
Malagosto is reimagined as an abandoned Cold War listening station on the island of Malta. The bunker is Scorpia's main headquarters and training facility.
Staff[]
- Oliver d'Arc (Principal / Head teacher)
- Professor Yermalov (Practical lessons)
- Miss Eijit "Jet" Binnag (Botany)
- Mr Gordon Ross (Technical Specialist, History of weapons)
- Dr Karl Steiner (Psychiatrist)
- John Rider (Undercover)
- Mr Sefton Nye (Ex-principle)
- The Countess
- Hatsumi Saburo "HS" (Ninjutsu, among other things)
Students and ex-students[]
Students training during the novel Scorpia[]
- Alex Rider
- Miss Craig
- Klaus
- Walker
- Amanda
Students training during the novel Russian Roulette[]
- Yassen Gregorovich
- Colette
- Marat
- Sam
- Unnamed Chinese man
Other students[]
- Nile