The war shelters
Cut into the rock by the residents' own hands.
Continentaleurope — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Frank Vincentz — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Frank Vincentz — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Frank Vincentz — CC BY-SA 3.0
A Maltese noble house still lived in: Casa Rocca Piccola was built in 1580 for an Italian knight and has belonged to the de Piro family for centuries — the ninth Marquis lives on its upper floors today while twelve of its rooms are visited by guided tour, so the furniture, silver, paintings and costumes are not museum pieces but a family's possessions, in use. The tour tells the daily life of the noble class: the dining room with its porcelain, the bedroom with its canopied bed, the library, eighteenth-century dress, even the sedan chair. A charming detail: the hand-cranked kitchen lift and the servants' register. And beneath the house a surprise: Second World War shelters the residents cut into the rock themselves, which saved hundreds of neighbours, visited as part of the tour — the house alone condensing Malta's history from the Knights to the bombing.
Cut into the rock by the residents' own hands.
A 'sedia volante' from the Knights' era.
Triq ir-Repubblika 74, Valletta
Palazzo de La SalleA palace from the era of the Knights of St John on Republic Street, Valletta's m1 minute walk4.6
The Grandmaster's PalaceMalta's seat of government without a break since 1571: the Knights built it for 2 minutes walk4.4
Valletta Design ClusterA centre for design and craft in the old municipal abattoir building in the lowe2 minutes walk4.6
Teatru ManoelAmong Europe's oldest working theatres: Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena b3 minutes walk4.7
The National LibraryThe last building the Knights raised in Valletta: the Bibliotheca was built betw3 minutes walk4.7Entirely different: the palace is official and grand, this is intimate and explains how people actually lived. For lovers of social history it is the more enjoyable, and an hour covers it.