Palazzo Falzon, Citta Vecchia (Mdina)

The Norman House, formerly known as Palazzo Falzon was built at the end of the 15th century in the Siculo-Norman style by the Aragonese Vice-Admiral Falzon. 

Although the Norman House is of a much later period than the Palazzo Santa Sofia (1233) nearby, the string course is identical and the decorated double windows are magnificent. Their only equivalents are said to be found only in Sicily and Southern Italy.

This is the palace where Grand Master L'Isle-Adam was received and stayed two days  after his ceremonial reception and state entry into Mdina in 1530.

The Norman House contains paintings of well-known masters, glass and silver, plate, pharmacy jars,  furniture and a collection of Maltese silver and gold objects, as well as a Library of extensive "Melitensia".

During the Second World War a stray bomb damaged the courtyard of the Norman House, but this was subsequently restored.

The Norman House, Palzzo Falzon, was restored by Captain Gollcher and his wife who donated the palace with all its treasures to the Venerable Order of St John in the British Realm in 1943. the donation was to take place after the death of both donors. But after their decease the order realised that they were not able to keep the palace in accordance with Capt. Gollcher's wishes, and they passed it over to the National Museum on condition that the wishes of the testators be complied be respected.

Xlejli Tower, Bettina Palace

The Xlejli Tower stands in the gardens of the Bettina Palace, or Dorrel Palace as it is also known at Gudja in the south of Malta. The garden is one of the largest on the island and contains a variety of unusual follies including several antiquities. Dominating the garden and the surrounding country is the tall, round tower.

The earliest reference to the Xlejli Tower is in a book printed in 1570 where it is described as a lookout tower dating from the 12th or 13th centuries. However Louis de Boisgelin, historian of the Order of St John writing in 1804 conjectures that it could date from Roman times. He says that 'an urn of baked earth (terracotta) filled with Roman copper medals was found in this place; but as there was no local inscription, it gave no insight into the history of the tower'. Modern archaeologists in Malta have identified the remains of several other round towers that could well date from the Roman era.

Whatever its age, it seems certain that the Xlejli Tower was built as a lookout and not for defensive purposes. From the top it commands an unbroken view of the island's southern coastline for 180 degrees, from Benghisa Point to the Grand Harbour.

The palazzo itself, one of the loveliest houses in Malta, was built in 1670, and the tower was probably enclosed within the high garden wall at that time. In 1760 the palazzo was bought by Pietro Paolo Dorell Falzon, as a dowry for his daughter Bettina, on the occasion of her marriage. Since then the palazzo has belonged to the Trapani Galea Feriol family. The family title, Barons of San Marciano, was the creation of Grand Master of the Order of St John, Manoel de Vilhena, in 1726. Gino, the present Baron is the tenth since the creation and his eldest son Michael enjoys the courtesy title, Baroncino di San Marciano.

Bettina Dorell had been a lady-in -waiting to the Queen of Naples and was therefore a woman of considerable social consequence on the island. She was much given to entertaining which meant lunch followed by tea, owing to the long distance traveled by horse and carriage from Valletta. After luncheon there was that awkward social gap that had to be filled before tea, and so the hostess endevoured to provide visits to conceits, follies, fancies and other beguilement for the entertainment of her guests. Coffee was served in a hexagonal kiosk that was sadly destroyed by a  bomb that took a direct hit during the Second World War.

Bettina's most ambitious project was to restore and decorate the tower as we see it today: three rooms, one on top of the other, with access by an external spiral staircase. The lowest room , on the first floor, is decorated in the neo-classical taste: the walls are hung with chintz which is probably contemporary with Bettina's refurbishment, two plaster figures of Sappho and Vesta face each other across the room, while in the centre of the painted floor is an empty plinth upon which once stood a third statue- that was shattered by a bomb blast during the War, perhaps by the same bomb that destroyed the kiosk.

 The beams and the interstices of all the ceilings in the tower are beautifully and delicately painted with bands and garlands.

The room on the middle floor is is filled by a large circular table with a chintz cloth over it and small benches set against the painted walls.

 The table is set with dishes of food for a typical Maltese meal: joints of meat and game, fresh fruit and bread - but in fact it is all carved from soft limestone and painted with trompe-l'oeil effect. The Maltese limestone is very soft and workable when quarried, but hardens off after about eighteen months exposure to the air.

The stairs get even more vertiginous as one ascends to and finally reaches the top room which is empty except for an elderly telescope on a stand. The walls, painted in oil on plaster ground, are home to an imaginary landscape filled with strange buildings, cities and villages, and although not alien to the Maltese landscape it bears no direct topographical relationship to the surrounding countryside. It is peopled with an assortment of very strange and enigmatic groups. The name of the painter is unknown, but in the 18th century Malta had a good many itinerant artists who would knock on the doors of large houses offering to paint friezes, stencil and marble; and also execute portraits of the household.

The beautiful palazzo with its gorgeous tower with its interiors decorated in deliciously light airy colours is a brilliant reminder of the sophistication and exquisite cosmopolitan taste of the Maltese aristocracy that flourished under the rule of the Order of St John in the 18th century.

Verdala Palace

Grand Commander Fra' Hughes de Loubenx-Verdalle, a French Knight who belonged to the Langue of Provence was elected Grand Master of the Order of St. John in 1581. Only fifty-one, he was young for a grand master. Five years after his election he was called to Rome where he was made a Cardinal and Prince of the Church. Verdalle did his best to live up to his enhanced status; amongst other things he introduced to Malta the elegant fashion for  music to be played at dinner, "a foretaste of the sweet strains of Paradise".

Verdalle is best remembered in Malta for the castle-like palace he built in the countryside near Mdina. He chose one of the most  prominent positions in the island; a great outcrop overlooking the Boschetto (little wood) or Buskett, the only woodland on the island. The Boschetto is a naturally green valley in an otherwise arid island, where Jerusalem pines flourish and there are some of the finest orange groves, watered by, rare, Maltese springs. The valley had long been a favourite place for the Maltese to escape the summer heat and was a favourite resort to enjoy picnics in the shade among the trees, until Verdalle appropriated the Boschetto for his own personal pleasure, and that of the other Grand-Crosses and his distinguished guests.

Where the great hero of 1565 Valette had declined elevation to become a cardinal and had been content with a modest hunting box to when he came to the Boschetto, the Cardinal Grand Master Verdalle wanted a palace, and he engaged the Maltese architect Gerolamo Cassar to build it. Work began in 1586.

What Cassar designed was a palace with all the outward appearance of a fort. Almost square in plan, Verdala Palace is three stories high and has four pentagonal or bastion shaped corner towers, rising to a forth storey. The lower storey is cut from the living rock and is surrounded by a dry moat. But the Palace was not built to withstand a siege, or even a determined assault, notwithstanding the four pieces of artillery placed on the flat roof. The towers were merely symbolic, emblematic of the proud military heritage of a grand master of the Knights of St.John. The balustrade parapet was added later; during the reign of Grand Master de Vilhena as were his coat-of-arms carved in stone attached to the balustrade on the courtyard and south west fronts. On all four sides of the castle are the smaller coat of arms of the builder Cardinal Grand Master Verdalle.

On the south-west front is a balcony from which a second stone staircase descends to a terrace built by Grand Master Lascaris. Beneath is the terraced garden constructed by walled parterres, filled with shiploads of topsoil; imported from Sicily.

Above the main entrance on the courtyard front , beneath Verdalle's arms  is the inscription "Monte Verdala, Ros et Pluvius" "May dew and rain fall on Monte Verdala".

In the entrance hall is a monumental bust of Verdalle wearing the cardinal's beretta.

On the left side of the entrance hall  were the Grand Master's private apartments. These are the four rooms opening from the great hall on the piano nobile or first floor. In the palace there are three halls and twelve smaller rooms. This is a palace built for pleasure and retreat from the cares of state, not a fortress to repel attackers. However within the walls are secret staircases and oubliettes, some of them with holes carved in the walls for fastening manacles attached to unfortunate captives, imprisoned here for who knows what ends?

The salon has a marble floor and a high ribbed vault ceiling. At either end of the room are lunettes  painted by Filippo Paldini that depict the triumphal rise and rise of Fra' Hughes from cradle to the magistry of the Order of St. John and to his further elevation as a Cardinal. He is depicted at the age of sixteen presenting his proofs of nobility to Grand Master de Homedes for admission into the Order, as Governor of the Artillery, as Grand Prior of Toulouse, as Ambassador of the Hospitallers to Pope Gregory XIII and as Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

The wide spiral staircase winds up through the palace from the basement to the flat roof. The steps shallow enough to permit easy  passage by elderly knights wearing  armour.

Above the entrance to the great hall, is inscribed the motto, Cedant Curae Loco; "All cares surrenders in this place." A fitting motto for a place of retreat from the cares of state..

The bedrooms and private apartments have beautiful wooden ceilings painted during the magistry of  Fra' Manoel de Vilhena and  bearing the Portuguese Grand Master's emblems. In spite of these lovely embellishments, in all other respects the palace retains the austere identity bequeathed by its builder.

These wonderful airy rooms with high ceilings and shuttered windows open on to stone balconys that catch the breeze, and have  marvelous views of the island in all directions. The Palace has been a favourite retreat for the islands' rulers ever since Verdalle bequeathed his palace to the Order. In the Colonial era Verdala was used by the British Governor Generals for weekend houseparties. Verdala Castle remains an official residence of the President of the Republic of Malta.

San Anton Palace Gardens

Malta, the land of honey is famous for its roses and for its beautiful gardens. Most of them are hidden away behind high stone walls. But the loveliest gardens of them all, are surely those at San Anton Palace, Fra. Antoine de Paule's country villa, four miles from Valletta. There are the famous orange groves, magnificent specimen trees, fragrant roses and honeysuckle and vibrant beds of colour provided by massed plantings of pelagoniums and rampant climbers plumbago and bougainvillea.

While still the Prior of Saint-Gilles, Fra. Antoine de Paule had built himself a country villa at Attard. On assuming the magistry in 1623 he set about enlarging his house into a palace for entertaining his friends and guests. He bought more land and set about planting groves of orange, lemon and other fruit trees which he imported from France, Sicily, Spain and Italy.

He built fountains and pools stocked with fish from Sicily and laid out his lovely gardens, a plan of which, it is said, was sent by the Bailiff de Vendome to Louis XIV of France to serve as a model for the gardens at Versailles.

By 1625 most of the improvements at San Anton were completed, giving the palace the appearance it has today, although there were additional alterations and embellishments which have continued down to the present day. The palace has roughly the shape of a cross, with the four arms approximating to the four points of the compass. On the south east is the large courtyard that leads to the palace entrance. The spaces between the arms of the cross on the North east and North West and South West are the three private gardens.

The garden most often used for entertaining is the South West Garden divided into lower and upper sections by a stone colonnade. Here well watered lawns, a rarity in scorching Malta are shaded by magnificent tree specimens, some of which are hundreds of years old. A number of these trees have been planted by distinguished visitors over the years and are still flourishing. These include a Sapindus Indica planted by King Edward VII in !903. Araucarias were planted by Queen Alexandra in 1907, by the Duke of Coburg and Gotha in 1910 and by the Duchess of Cornwall and York in 1901. A Quericus Robur was planted by the Dowager Empress Marie of Russia during her stay at San Anton breaking her voyage into exile in 1919.An Accacia Farnesiana was planted by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh to the commemorate the birth of their daughter, Princess Victoria Melita "which occurred in the Palace Antonio on 25th November 1876" has long since died, but the marble plaque remains to record the event.

The private garden to the North West is another lovely garden with flowers, fish ponds and majestic trees. Here there is a tree that was planted by the German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1904. Taking a walk through the gardens on Saturday 26th April 1919 the Empress Marie of Russia caught sight of the tree and jabbed at it with her parasol saying, "Why do you keep a tree planted by the Kaiser - horrid man - why don't you pull it up?" With the reply that it wasn't the tree's fault, H.I.M. just laughed and turned away.A high wall separates this garden from the orange and lemon groves beyond. Two oaks close to the tennis court were planted by Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954.  The tennis court was installed during the time of Governor Bonham-Carter (1936-40)

A small door in the boundary wall, locked since time immemorial is reputed to have been used by Flamina Valenti, mistress of Fra. Antoine de Paule. The lady had been installed in a lovely old house in St. Anthony Street, that had a common garden wall with San Anton. Her assignations in the lovely gardens with the grand master drew the mounting disapproval of the Inquisitor Fabio Chigi (later Pope Alexander VII). Their none too discreet affair was reported to the Vatican on several occasions, she was described in one letter to Cardinal Barbineri as the 'Grand Master's prostitute.' On more than four occasions renowned beauty Miss Valenti entered the Convent of the Repented in Valletta, but only after Fra. Antoine died in 1636 did she become a nun.

The oranges grown at San Anton have long had the reputation as the finest fruit grown on the island. Whenever the grand master wished to pay a complement to a friendly power he usually sent a gift of San Anton oranges. The tradition continued during the British era when the governor usually sent a couple of crates of the fruit to reach London for Christmas. Grand Master de Rohan bought more adjoining land to increase the size of the orange groves.

It was in 1882 that an earlier governor Sir Arthur Bortor gave over the larger part of the gardens for the recreation of the public, including the menagerie and the aviaries that housed among other birds gorgeous Golden  Pheasants

 The kitchen gardens are aid out on the far side of St. Anthony Street at the western extremity of the gardens.The reservoir constructed in 1766, was later used a swimming pool, until 1970.

San Anton Palace

In Malta Grand Master Fra. Antoine de Paule is best remembered for his country house. San Anton or the palace of San Antonio is at the village of Attard, four miles from Valletta. A Frenchman from Provence Fra. Antoine de Paule ruled  the Order of St. John, and Malta from 1623 until 1636. While Prior of Saint Gilles he had already bought the land and built himself a modest villa, named after his patron saint. On assuming the magistry  de Paule enlarged his country retreat into a palatial residence, for entertaining his friends and guests in the princely style to which he became, rapidly, accustomed. Verdala Castle the old summer residence of the grand masters was too distant and far too austere to meet Antoine de Paule's desire for a convenient, retreat  from pressing affairs of state. On the day of his installation as grand master, 24th April 1623, Fra. Antoine  entertained 600 guests to a lavish lunch at San Anton.

Fra. Antoine de Paule was already an old man of seventy-three when he ascended  the magistral throne. But from the start he was beset by one embarrassment followed by another. He was forced to defend  his personal dignity and the sovereign status of his Order with the greatest vigour from the interference of  Pope Urban VIII and his rapacious nephews, the Cardinals, Barberini.The new grand master faced  serious charges of simony and bribery in obtaining his high office. Added to which, he also a reputation as a libertine and for shameless self-indulgence. In response De Paule sought to shore up his beleaguered authority by the assumption of ever greater luxury and ceremonial than any of his warrior predecessors had presumed. He dined under a crimson canopy and maintained an enormous household.

Grand Master Fra. Antoine de Paule

Elizabeth Schermerhorn catalogued the retinue which was fed and lodged by the grand master,"There was besides the Seneschal of the Palace, who was a Knight, and the Maitre de l'Hotel, the Grand Master's four valets and twelve pages, his five chaplains and two physicians and his confessor. There were twelve grooms and eight chausseurs and the guards of the Palace and of the falcons. And there was the Butler and the Steward, with three cooks and five scullions; there was a coffee-maker and a rat-catcher and a keeper of the storeroom; pantry servants and valets- de- chambres, besides book keepers and three secretaries (one for each of the languages represented in the Order.) There was also a game-keeper who gave our permits for the hunting season, which lasted from the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene to Easter; a fencing master and a teacher of "grammar" for the pages; a man toregulate the clocks, a house carpenter, and the drummers and trumpeters, and but one wig-maker - for the days of voluminous wigs was not yet dawned. Bread always played an important part in the economic life of Latin communities and accordingly we find, in addition to the miller and the man who gave out the corn and the man who pounded it and the six bakers, a whole retinue of people attached to the Palace bakery, solely engaged in the distribution of the bread, not only to the Palace, but to its retainers and to the poor and to certain orders of monks and nuns, to the hunters and gardeners and archers belonging to the Palace, and to the guardians of the Palace slaves; and there was a man who baked the bread for the hunting dogs. Add to this the people of the stables, the coachmen, saddlers, mounted horsemen, blacksmiths, farriers, and the twelve men in livery and twelve stable boys - it will appear that considerable "glosinge" was required  in order to make those vaunted vows of poverty cover the necessary state that waited on a Grand Master of the 17th century.

The new grand master converted his original house into stables and built a sprawling new palace radiating from a central square tower. He bought up more land which he added to the gardens. The palace was completed by 1625, although there have been alterations and additions since then. With the exception of the tower, the palace is built on two storeys. The ground floor accommodates the kitchens, stores and pantries, the offices, stables and guard rooms. The palace's two chapels are also on the ground floor. The palace's main reception rooms, two bedroom wings and the grand master's private apartments  are all on the piano nobile.

The main reception room is the Drawing Room, off the hall at the top of the entrance staircase. Surrounded on three sides by the arched veranda built by Captain Ball at the start of the British occupation the room has views over the surrounding gardens. The Drawing Room is furnished with a mixture of Maltese and English furniture and is used today for small receptions, of up to 150 people, and is the room where guests assemble before going into lunch or dinner.

The hall at the top of the entrance staircase is  used as an additional reception room when the size of the guest list demands it.

The banqueting hall, now known as the dining room is a large airy room with an alcove at one end supported by two columns, and a door at the other end that opens onto a small flight of steps leading down to one of the private gardens. Six full length portraits of grand masters, including Adrien de Wignacourt and Phillipe Villiers de l'Isle Adam line the walls.

The Octagonal Hall  also known as the Marble Hall features four alcoves, two of which are used for the display of a fine collection of Majolica vases manufactured in Caltagirone, Sicily. These vases were used for storing medicines and drugs at the hospital of the Order and were brought to the Palace from the Sacra Infermeria.

Double doors lead from the Octagonal Hall into the room used for official meetings and the signing of treaties and state papers.

The long room is an  informal  drawing room dominated by a full length portrait of de Valette on the battlefield. The room is also furnished with floral paintings, mirrors, an antique Maltese wall clock and two large inlaid Maltese chests of drawers. This  is where the president's guests gather after lunch, prior to  their departure.

De Paule  bequeathed the palace to his Order, its rents to be used for the maintenance of the galley fleet and so San Anton became the principal country residence of his successors. In the colonial era the palace was the official residence of the British Governors and today it is the residence of the head of state, the President of Malta.