Valletta was built on an empty ridge in fifteen years
Drawn on paper in 1566 and built on bare rock, with a grid that ignores the hill and turns three streets into…
19 Jun 20262 minRead Valletta was built on an empty ridge in fifteen years
History
-
-
The gun fires at noon and you can watch for free
The Saluting Battery still fires at midday and at four. From the gardens above it costs nothing.
18 Jun 20262 minRead The gun fires at noon and you can watch for free -
Fort St Angelo held out when St Elmo fell
The Order’s headquarters through the Great Siege, then a British naval base for over a century, and now open to walk round.
13 Jun 20262 minRead Fort St Angelo held out when St Elmo fell -
The Maltese balcony, and where it came from
The closed wooden balcony is on streets across both islands. Where it came from is still argued over.
12 Jun 20262 minRead The Maltese balcony, and where it came from -
Malta has no rivers, so half its water is made from the sea
No rivers, no lakes. Half the supply is pumped from under the limestone and half is made from seawater.
-
One Grand Master paid for thirteen towers in two years
Martin de Redin funded a chain of watchtowers close enough to signal each other. Eight of the thirteen are still standing.
8 Jun 20262 minRead One Grand Master paid for thirteen towers in two years -
The statues on street corners were the street lights
Niches cut into the corner of a building, with a lamp underneath. Before street lighting that lamp was the light on the…
7 Jun 20262 minRead The statues on street corners were the street lights -
The Three Cities are older than Valletta
Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua sit opposite Valletta and predate it. The ferry across takes about five minutes.
18 May 20262 minRead The Three Cities are older than Valletta -
The salt pans on the Gozo coast still work
Families cut salt out of the rock between Qbajjar and Xwejni every summer, the same way it has been done for centuries.
27 Apr 20262 minRead The salt pans on the Gozo coast still work -
The eye painted on a luzzu, and what it is for
Every Maltese fishing boat carries an eye on the bow. The habit is thought to go back to Phoenician boats.
17 Apr 20262 minRead The eye painted on a luzzu, and what it is for -
The bomb that fell through the dome at Mosta
It came through the roof during a service in April 1942, with three hundred people inside, and it did not explode.
24 Mar 20262 minRead The bomb that fell through the dome at Mosta -
The Knights ran Malta for 268 years
The Order of St John arrived in 1530 and left in 1798. Valletta, the co-cathedral and the auberges all date from those…
13 Mar 20262 minRead The Knights ran Malta for 268 years