Monuments to visit Valletta

The city gate is located between the bastions of Santiago and Saint John. A bridge over the deep moat surrounding Valletta leads to this gate. Throughout history, Valletta has had five different gates: the first built during the reign of John of Valletta, the second attributed to Tommaso Dingli, the third during the English occupation and the fourth in Italian style. The fifth gate was part of the renovation project of the entrance to the city orchestrated by the architect Renzo Piano, which is now in place. A project launched notably for the festivities of "Valletta, European Capital of Culture" in 2018 by UNESCO. It was part of the large urban renewal complex that combines old stones and modernity. Located at the entrance to the Walled City, between the moat and the main square (Place de la Liberté), it included the remodelling of the city gates and moat, the construction of a new building and the transformation of the ruins of the Opera House - bombed during the Second World War - into an open-air theatre. A project that has been much talked about in Malta, as it originally envisaged the construction of the Parliament building on the remains of the Opera House. Renzo Piano's project to preserve these remains finally convinced the Maltese people, although it included the destruction of part of the old city gates to allow them to open and the construction of a modern building in the heart of the Baroque city. The idea was to preserve the city's architectural heritage while creating a contemporary civic and cultural meeting place.

Thecentral square adorned by the majestic Triton Fountain also completed its renovation in 2019, as the three bronze tritons were completely restored in a prestigious Florentine foundry. The fountain is now pedestrianized and the water features are particularly appreciated at night.

The gate of the Fortified City and the moat. The austere City Gate built by the English to defend the city was destroyed and replaced by two majestic staircases that allow pedestrian communication from one side to the other of the old city, previously divided in two. The very deep moat has been transformed into a garden planted with trees and a pedestrian promenade. It can be reached by a staircase on the right, once you have passed the gate. The visiting hours are not clearly explained but the closing is apparently announced in advance.

Designed by Cassar, the Grand Masters' Palace was built between 1570 and 1580 as the official residence of the Grand Masters. Later, it was also used by English governors. Since 1921, the palace has housed the Chamber of Deputies and, since 1974, the office of the President of the Republic. Of its two inner courtyards, the largest is the Cour de Neptune, whose bronze statue was commissioned by the Grand Master, Alof de Wignacourt. It adorned the fish market until the English governor Le Marchand had it moved to the palace. A cloister of local stone surrounds the courtyard. Beautiful balustrades can be seen on the second floor, where the nobles lived. In the second courtyard, that of Prince Alfred, the clock indicating the hours, days, months and cycles of the Moon is a gift from the great Portuguese master, Manoel Pinto de Fonseca. Two bronze Moors chime the hours.
At the far right after the entrance, a commemorative plaque lists the names of the various Grand Masters of Malta, the first on the list being Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam. In the entrance corridor, paintings by Niccolo Nasoni evoke the naval battles between the Order's knights and the Turks. The rooms are decorated with portraits of the great masters and with armor. The floor was covered with marble on the initiative of the English governor Le Marchand in the ^19th century.
The Salle des Tapisseries displays a complete series of tapestries by the famous Gobelins manufactory, executed by order of King Louis XIV at the request of the Prince of Nassau. These "Indian hangings", commissioned by the great master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful and created in 1697, depict exotic fauna and flora, more or less imaginary.
These superb compositions of colorful, exuberant scenes, full of life and movement, were for the most part inspired by the Prince's travels. During his hunts in Africa or his campaigns in the Mediterranean, he was always accompanied by a painter. The painter produced "on-the-spot" sketches for the artisans at the Manufacture des Gobelins to draw inspiration from. Connoisseurs will appreciate the precision and meticulousness of the work: 256 threads per square inch, or around 6 cm², which is the mark of a particularly tight weave.
In the State Banquet Hall, you'll mainly find portraits of English sovereigns, notably those of Elizabeth II and George IV. Today, conferences are held here. In the Throne Room, a frieze of twelve frescoes by Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, a former pupil of Michelangelo, evokes the Great Siege of 1565. It features a particularly precise plan of Valletta, with the bay and the four promontories. In this beautiful gold-upholstered room, awards are presented to deserving Maltese. You'll also see the throne that was once occupied by the Grand Master, and later by the English governor.
The next salon is the Ambassadors' Salon, or Salon Rouge, because of the color of the damask that covers its walls. This is a red salon, in ^19th-century style, in which the President receives his visitors. A frieze here recalls the main events in the Order's history in Rhodes, just before its arrival in Malta.the public is not generally allowed access to this room, except in groups, if accompanied by a guide, or sometimes individually during a visit to the museum. It is here that ambassadors present their credentials. A painting by Antoine de Favray shows Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (first Grand Master of Malta) receiving the keys to the city of Mdina. Wignacourt, an apothecary with a clock brought back from the island, as well as a portrait of Louis XVI next to a more modest one of Louis XIV.
The Pages' waiting room, or Yellow Room, so named for the color of its walls, is adorned with a frieze by Matteo Pérez d'Aleccio evoking the history of the Order of St. John in the Holy Land in the ^13th century. It is interspersed with allegorical symbols. This room also features a portrait of the famous Grand Master Parisot de La Valette, painted by Antoine de Favray. Between the entrance corridor and the Chambre Jaune, pendants still evoke the Order's history through its maritime expeditions.
In the Grand Master's salon, you'll notice the portraits of popes on display. The Grand Master's private chapel, where paintings depict the life of St. John the Baptist, patron saint of the Order, is now the office of the Governor's secretariat.
The gardens add a touch of freshness to the building.

The Palace Armory. Part of the palace restoration work starting in 2019 involved reinstating this historic armory in its original location, the former Parliament Chamber. With 5,000 items, ranging from the ^16th to the ^18th century, it houses an impressive collection: armor, swords, daggers... A showcase for the opulence of the Order of St. John - fierce defenders of the Catholic faith against the attacks of the Ottoman Empire - it is considered one of the finest in the world, and also houses the armor of Grand Masters Alof de Wignacourt and Jean de Valette, as well as Ottoman armor and weapons.

Located at the northern end of the city of Valletta, Fort Saint-Elme is one of the must-see sites when visiting Valletta. Today, it houses the National War Museum. Like similar fortifications of the same age in continental Europe, the fort was defended by a cavalryman on the seaward side and by bastions on the landward side. Around 1552, following an Ottoman attack in 1551, the Order of St. John decided to build the fort to protect the entrance to Valletta's two ports, and named it Fort Saint-Elme, in honor of the patron saint of sailors. They entrusted military engineer Pietro Pardo with the design and construction of the fort on the tip of Mount Sceberras, the peninsula where Valletta would later be built. When the dreaded Ottoman invasion took place in 1565, the stage was set for one of the most tragic moments in Malta's military history. The Ottomans realized that, in order to ensure safe anchorage for their fleet in one of the two ports on either side of the peninsula, they first had to neutralize Fort Saint-Elme. They launched a massive and desperate attack against this outpost, carrying out an uninterrupted siege lasting thirty days until the final surrender. By June 23, 1565, some 1,100 defenders of the fort had been slaughtered to the last man. The Ottomans lost a further 8,000 men. But while the Ottomans never turned the fort into a Turkish prison, the Americans did: the barracks were, in fact, used as the setting for the 1978 film Midnight Express. At the end of the Great Siege, Fort Saint-Elme was restored and, in 1687, a wall was built around it, linking it to the new town of Valletta. The fort again fell prey to destruction during the Second World War: the first casualties were reported during a bombardment on June 11, 1940, the day after Italy declared war. In July 1941, the fort was again in the firing line when its Maltese defenders bravely repelled an attack by 9 Italian assault boats. Fort Saint-Elme occasionally hosts the great In Guardia parade, a military parade retracing the inspection that the great commander carried out in his garrisons in the ^17th century, with over 80 actors in period costumes.

At the entrance to the old town, this superb house, in authentic Spanish style, is today the administrative residence of the Prime Minister. It has been home to the knights of Castile, Leon and Portugal, i.e. Portuguese and Spanish speaking knights. Designed by Gerolamo Cassar, like many other buildings, the hostel was originally built in Renaissance style, but the great master Pinto de Fonseca had a Baroque façade erected in the 18th century. It is the most representative building of the Knights' era.

This XVI century mansion was inhabited by the ninth marquis of Piro and his family. During the time of the knights, the residence was attached to the Italian language inn. It bears the name of its first owner, Don Pietro La Rocca, admiral of the Order of St. John. Today, it is the Marquise de Piro herself who gives a one-hour tour of the place.

The staircase. The two vertical paintings, The Invention of the Electric Light Bulb and The Mechanization of the Wheat Industry, were painted by Ramiro Raffaele Cali for Antonio Cassar Torregiani, the only industrialist to have lived in Casa Rocca Piccola.

The chapel, dating back to the ancestors of the Marquis, has an altarpiece painted by Pietro Paolo Caruana and showing the Virgin and Child venerated by Saint Gaetano. The treasure of the chapel includes some very beautiful pieces, donated by Popes Pius IX and Leo XII.

The room of the canopy bed. The canopy bed is that of the great-grandmother of the Marquis Orsola Agius Caruana. She gave birth to nine children here.

The green room. You will notice some picturesque details in the portraits: the little girl wearing a red bracelet for superstition, with mountains in the background, symbols of Sicily, because in Malta there are no mountains! You will also see the invitations for the coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II.

The library, with several paintings and portraits, including the watercolor of Louisa, daughter of the Marquis.

The Porphyry Room is named for its mural which imitates... porphyry (a volcanic stone). Its sixteenth-century beamed ceiling is the only one in the house that has remained intact. In this room there are several portraits of the Piro ancestors.

In the blue room, note a series of surgical instruments on the table. The blue room is also the television room (look carefully behind the panels).

The summer dining room makes you want to settle down and put the napkin on your lap, waiting for the gala meal suggested by a beautifully set table.

The Chinese room: several small vinaigrettes and other objects displayed in the Chinese showcase.

The archive room: a large collection of the family's historical documents is displayed here. They were recently organized by an Italian doctoral student.

The air raid shelters: in order to protect themselves from the bombings during the Second World War (Valletta was one of the hardest hit cities), the Piro's transformed their two wells into air raid shelters.

The Auberge d'Italie is now home to the MUŻA (Muzew Nazzjonali tal-Arti għall-komunita' - National Museum of Community Art). Inaugurated in November 2018 and receiving its first visitors since December 2018, the MUŻA was one of the flagship projects of the Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture program, with the aim of appealing to all audiences and not just connoisseurs like the previous National Museum of Fine Arts. And it does so by allowing them to discover the richness of Malta's heritage and culture. Taking its name from the Maltese word for inspiration, it features a collection of over 20,000 works covering a very broad period from prehistory to modern and contemporary times. A visit to the MUŻA will also be an opportunity to see works by Mattia Preti, the Calabrian artist and knight of the Order of St. John who introduced the Baroque style to Malta; Victor Pasmore, one of the pioneers of British abstract art in the ^mid-20th century, who retired to Malta and left his mark; Antonio Sciortino, the celebrated ^{twentieth-century} Maltese sculptor, whose work reflects realism and futurism as well as the influence of Rodin; and Edward Caruana Dingli, a Maltese artist whose portraits and captures of life in Malta in the early ^twentieth century ensured his importance in the island's artistic development.

The building. Construction began at the end of the ^16th century. The Auberge d'Italie was the headquarters of the Italian knights of the Order of St. John. Its style was initially Mannerist. From the ^17th century onwards, the building underwent numerous modifications, with its last major renovation in 1680, giving it its Baroque character. As its style evolved, so did its functions. Having once served as the National Museum and the House of Justice, the Auberge d'Italie was long home to the Central Post Office, and until the end of 2016 it housed the Ministry of Tourism and the Malta Tourism Authority. In order to house the MUŻA, the building has been carefully restored to highlight the various stages of its chronology. The main staircase, for example, has been rebuilt with contemporary materials to match current architectural trends, but remains the ghost of a past in the building's long history. The main courtyard has become a public space in its own right, allowing visitors to discover the beauty of this ancient building in the UNESCO city of Valletta.

In the city centre, a classic building dating back to 1796 with columns. Here, all the Order's administrative documents are archived from 1107 to 1798. The amateurs can see the evidence of the districts of nobility of the knights (the Processi Nobili), the Charter of the gift of the island to the Order by Charles Quint where his seal is affixed, the Charter of 1107 granted to Baudouin I, King of Jerusalem, as well as most of the records of meetings of the Knights in the th century. In all, about 4 million documents.

One of the world's most impressive collections, with 5,000 items ranging from the ^16th to the ^18th century: armor, swords, daggers and weapons of all kinds. The room on the left contains crossbows, a few suits of armor, a cannon balance weighing up to 3 tons, as well as cannons and their cannonballs. Unusually, the cannonballs are larger than the calibers of their barrels. The room on the right is mainly devoted to armor, which became the property of the Order after the death of a knight. Complete suits of armor by several great masters can be admired, including that of Alof de Wignacourt and Jean Parisot de La Valette, founder of the city. Some are beautifully crafted; others bear the marks of battle.

After much controversy, since its construction required EUR 90 million, this new Parliament was inaugurated in May 2015. Its façade features more than 7 000 blocks of ochre globigerine stone in harmony with the surrounding Baroque buildings, alternating with reflective mirrors that shine in the sun and help to regulate the building's energy consumption. After prior booking, you can discover the interior and complete the visit with the Museum of Maltese History and Political Development.

This is the residence of chaplains during the reign of the Order. They, often councillors of great masters and knights, have the role of writing correspondence and treaties.

You will notice the beautiful, finely carved columns still standing and the stairs at the entrance of the former "Opera House". Built in 1866 in a neoclassical style by the English architect Edward Middleton Barry (known for the Covent Garden Theatre in London), it was almost completely disintegrated under German bombs during the Second World War. Without altering the site, an open-air amphitheatre was redeveloped. Named Pjazza Teatru Rjal (Royal Theatre Square) and inaugurated in August 2013. It hosts many performances.