Laparelli had a unique opportunity to create the perfect city. Valletta may
not strike you as a modern city, but it is one of the first examples of town
planning based on a grid pattern of streets.
The city catered well for all strata of society, from the Knights to their
servants and trades people. Laparelli's design provided for fresh water to be
piped in, and for sanitation; both advanced concepts for the time. The grid
of streets allowed for fresh air from the two harbours to circulate easily in
the narrow streets – a kind of city-scale air-conditioning.
Valletta is a fine example of a planned, 16th century city: unusual for the
times, since urban centres mostly evolved from earlier settlements. The rocky
Mount Sceberras on which it was built was not an easy location: it took considerable
levelling before construction could begin. La Valette died in 1568, before the
city was completed. By 1571, enough of the city was built to allow the Knights
to transfer from Birgu.
Laparelli left Malta in 1570, but work was continued by the Maltese Architect
Gerolamo Cassar. Cassar was responsible for most of the major early buildings
from the Cathedral of St John to the Sacra Infermeria, the Auberges or Innes
of Residence of the Knights and the Magisterial Palace.
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