“If you have an ear to listen, Valletta has a lot of stories to tell,” architect Renzo Piano said this evening.

Mr Piano and his senior partner Bernard Plattner are in Malta today to revisit Freedom Square and refresh their knowledge of the area.

They will now be working on their brief for the development of City Gate, Freedom Square and the Opera House and their work will be presenting to the government in April. The project will be completed within four years.

Struck by fact that the sea could be seen from anywhere in Valletta, Mr Piano told a news conference that Valletta was telling him that there should not be an open space as soon as one entered the city. Freedom Square was too empty and Valletta was about compression and intensity.

He said it was positive that the project was not commercial and the idea was to have something that was culturally and civically important.

Mr Piano said that having parliament on site was a civic gesture that made sense. For the project was intended to be civic, public and cultural.

Although he was considering all options for the opera house, Mr Piano said there would be no underground parking. “The more space you have for cars, the more cars you attract.”

When it came to style, Mr Piano said that modern was the only way to go but this did not mean one had to be aggressive.