At long last the entrance to Valletta has a coherent vision. Renzo Piano's plans provide that by covering the approach and entrance to Valletta, the space immediately beyond it and the ruins of what used to be Opera House. Is the vision right, will it be converted into reality and will it be enough?
As always, new proposals will create controversy. In fact, it started before the whole Piano scheme was unveiled through a detailed presentation on Saturday evening.
The architect had given some indication of what he would be proposing a week earlier, in this paper's Sunday sister.
Straight away, sparks began to fly, created through that new medium of popular immediacy, the blog, by a few individuals, no more than that.
Yet the tone used by a few of them was indicative of a minority opinion that quickly grew and snaked through the public domain.
The gist of it was that Maltese projects should be left to Maltese architects. Who was this Renzo Piano anyway?
Never mind that he is a personality of world renown, reaching there through his professional skill and daring to innovate. Never mind the Little Malta mentality of those who knock the man rather than his proposals.
Our leading architect, an apostle of controversial innovation himself, has much to be proud of yet he is humble enough to acknowledge that Piano will add to Valletta's prestige through the ages. Richard England told me so personally long ago and I'm sure he says it to anyone who cares to listen.
If there has to be controversy about the Piano plan, let it be about its details, not about the nationality of the gentleman. The most controversial part of the plan is not that to convert the old Opera House site for modern usage by incorporating the ruins.
After all, they tell part of our history. We have rebuilt the bulk of the wreckage wrought on our islands by enemy bombs in World War II. But, it happened. The Barry Opera House ruins tell the story six decades on. Why should they not be a factual record moving on? To make them that would not be to carry forward recrimination or a thirst for revenge. Germany and Italy have themselves condemned their role in World War II. They have embraced democracy and not even Berlusconi, though he is testing it in Italy, will be able to make a fresh wreck of it.
Germany and Italy are today not merely partners in the European Union project - they became very close allies at least three decades before we acceded to the Union. To retain a monument to remind posterity of World War II will not dent that relationship. It will be a reminder to all nations not to go down that horrible path again.
The controversy does not lie in the ruins, but in Piano's plan not to supply a roof over the conversion. Indeed, he sees his open-air compound creation as an opportunity for magic. Among those who do not agree is our international Joseph Calleja. He feels we have enough open-air forums.
Whatever the controversy, the Piano plan is likely to be implemented as it stands. The sooner it gets underway, the better. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is confident that the massive three-legged project can and will be completed within four years from its start, and that there will be no cost overruns.
After the experience of the Mater Dei Hospital and a host of other public projects the PM will not be surprised that his optimism will be received with scepticism. But a huge effort to stay within the set parameters must be made. For the sake of seeing the result as early as can be and also to allow economic life in the city to get back to normal after the disruption that implementing the three-part scheme is bound to cause.
Just as important is the need to look beyond the project itself. The Piano plan will embellish Valletta - it will not cure the many shortcomings that plague it.
Among these there are the cruelly surfacing signs of shoddy workmanship in past efforts to restore our capital city to its former glory. Coincidentally The Sunday Times reminded readers of what Valletta was like when goats were all over the place well into the 20th century, in the same publication that highlighted the Piano plan.
Sad to say, though goats are long gone, there remains much filth in the city. Walk down Republic Street in the morning before the crowds mask it and you see it there, with our main people's thoroughfare littered, dusty and sporting patches of overnight human urine. Fifty years ago the street would start off with a good sprinkle. Today it seems beyond the bounds of possibility to start off with a good modern sweep followed by the ministrations of a couple of bowsers of water.
Considerable work has been done to restore Valletta. Not all of it has been perfect and it certainly was not enough. Enough can never apply, not even after Renzo Piano joins the team of visionaries who have made Valletta a jewel, albeit one not properly cared for.