His assistant was the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, who later oversaw the construction of the city himself after Laparelli's death in 1570. The streets were designed to be wide and straight, beginning centrally from the City Gate and ending at Fort Saint Elmo (which was rebuilt) overlooking the Mediterranean certain bastions were built 47 metres (154 ft) high. He designed the new city on a rectangular grid plan, and without any collacchio (an area restricted for important buildings). įrancesco Laparelli was the city's principal designer and his plan departed from medieval Maltese architecture, which exhibited irregular winding streets and alleys. John's Co-Cathedral among the tombs of other Grand Masters of the Knights of Malta. Originally interred in the church of Our Lady of the Victories, his remains now rest in St. ĭe Valette died from a stroke on 21 August 1568 at age 74 and never saw the completion of his city. In his book Dell'Istoria della Sacra Religione et Illustrissima Militia di San Giovanni Gierosolimitano (English: The History of the Sacred Religion and Illustrious Militia of St John of Jerusalem), written between 15, Giacomo Bosio writes that when the cornerstone of Valletta was placed, a group of Maltese elders said: ' Iegi zimen en fel wardia col sceber raba iesue uquie' (Which in modern Maltese reads, ' Jiġi żmien li fil-Wardija kull xiber raba' jiswa uqija', and in English, 'There will come a time when every piece of land on Sciberras Hill will be worth its weight in gold'). He placed the first stone in what later became Our Lady of Victories Church. The foundation stone of the city was laid by Grand Master de Valette on 28 March 1566. Pope Pius V sent his military architect, Francesco Laparelli, to design the new city, while Philip II of Spain sent substantial monetary aid.

The Grand Master asked the European kings and princes for help, receiving a lot of assistance due to the increased fame of the Order after their victory in the Great Siege. The city took his name and was called La Valletta. The victorious Grand Master, Jean de Valette, immediately set out to build a new fortified city on the Sciberras Peninsula to fortify the Order's position in Malta and bind the Knights to the island. In the Great Siege of 1565, Fort Saint Elmo fell to the Ottomans, but the Order eventually won the siege with the help of Sicilian reinforcements. In 1552, the Aragonite watchtower was demolished and the larger Fort Saint Elmo was built in its place. Back then, the only building on the peninsula was a small watchtower dedicated to Erasmus of Formia (Saint Elmo), which had been built in 1488. The building of a city on the Sciberras Peninsula had been proposed by the Order of Saint John as early as 1524. The nave of Saint John's Co-Cathedral Grandmaster's Palace Valletta and the Grand Harbour c. Order of Saint John The Ottoman army bombs the Knights' Three Cities from the peninsula of Sciberras during the 1565 Great Siege. Recent scholarly studies have however shown that the Xeberras phrase is of Punic origin and means 'the headland' and 'the middle peninsula' as it actually is. The city is noted for its fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches. Valletta is also the sunniest city in Europe. Sometimes called an 'open-air museum', Valletta was chosen as the European Capital of Culture in 2018. The city has 320 monuments, all within an area of 0.55 square kilometres (0.21 sq mi), making it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world. The city was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. The city is Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. The city was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion during the Great Siege of Malta. Valletta's 16th-century buildings were constructed by the Knights Hospitaller. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just 0.61 square kilometres (0.24 sq mi), it is the European Union's smallest capital city. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134.

Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. Valletta ( / v ə ˈ l ɛ t ə/, Maltese: il-Belt Valletta, Maltese pronunciation: ) is an administrative unit and the capital of Malta.

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