Valletta is named after its founder, the respected Grand Master of the Order
of St John, Jean Parisot de la Valette. But the city really owes its birth to
his arch enemy, Grand Turk Suleiman the Magnificent.
When the Knights arrived in Malta in 1530, they had settled in the small village
of Birgu (Vittoriosa), which was protected by Fort St Angelo. They managed to
enlarge the old St Elmo watchtower on the Sceberras Peninsula opposite, but
their defences were still weak. The strategic importance of Mount Sceberras
was to become all too evident during the Great Siege.
Valletta had been planned before the siege. But the plans could only be executed
once a grateful Christendom had lavished riches on the Knights for their defeat
of Suleiman. Pope Pius V and King Philip of Spain gave financial aid and loaned
the services of an outstanding military engineer, the Italian, Francesco Laparelli.
The magnificent fortress city grew on the arid rock of Mount Sceberras peninsula,
which rises steeply from two deep harbours, Marsamxett and Grand Harbour. Started
in 1566, Valletta was completed, with its impressive bastions, forts and cathedral,
in the astonishingly short time of 15 years.
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