Today, Valletta is celebrating its 450th anniversary and to mark this occasion the Times of Malta is re-printing a supplement that was first published on March 28, 1966.
The many articles spanned from the early maps of the city to town plans to the origin of street names.
Dr Albert Ganado
“Fifty years ago, George Sammut, editorial adviser at Allied Newspapers, had the brilliant idea to issue a special number of the Times of Malta to mark the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Valletta, and I wholeheartedly agree that such a special issue should be reprinted again today.
“At his kind request, I had contributed an article on the law courts in Valletta. It covered the period from the advent of the Order of St John in 1530 until 1966 when the law courts were being rebuilt on the site of the old Auberge d’Auvergne, which was badly damaged during World War II.
“In that article I had taken the opportunity to give the story of the various tribunals that had functioned throughout the centuries. Much water has passed under the bridges since then.
“The main tribunals are still housed in those new law courts, but fresh legislation had created new tribunals which required additional space.
“The administration of justice has undergone many substantial changes and suffered many vicissitudes, at times turbulent from outside, at other times traumatic from within. But the judiciary as a whole has somehow succeeded in weathering the storm.”
Prof. Alexiei Dingli
“The 450th anniversary of Valletta marks the celebration of a capital city, but also the awakening of an island state. A space, originally conceived by Grand Master De Valette to protect the Order of St John and the islands of Malta, eventually became the heart of the nation.
“The city pushed Malta towards urbanisation, which brought forth a rapid increase in the population. The development of its safe harbours located around the Xeberras peninsula positioned the island as an important strategic trade route, sought after by the French, British and other world powers.
“The imposing palazzos hidden behind the impressive fortifications guaranteed the city World Heritage Status. In the past decades, we have seen some huge investments in the city, both by public and private investors. This has led to the much-needed cultural revival. The city, which laid dormant for many decades, is now awakening.
“While an anniversary is important to commemorate the glorious past, it should also be used to critically evaluate and plan for the future. With this new revival, Valletta has to face new challenges.
“First and foremost, I want a city which respects its residents. After all, they make up the soul of the city and to do so, their city has to be liveable. Citizens must feel safe. We must make it healthy again to live in cities by reducing air and noise pollution while also introducing new green spaces.
“We need to pause and reflect on the spectre of overdevelopment, which is looming on our shoulders. We should not turn a blind eye towards gentrification and we should implement measures to tone down its effects.
“Just think about the fact that some areas in Valletta are devoid of young families. We want a sustainable city strategy, which manages to strike a balance between the different needs, one that is not afraid to prioritise in favour of the well-being of the city and its inhabitants.
“The future is challenging but exciting. We have gone a long way in these past 450 years. Let’s work together towards achieving a common goal, that of designing a better city for our children and for the future generations yet to come. And congratulations to the Times of Malta for this initiative.”
Laurence Grech
“George Sammut was editor of The Sunday Times of Malta from 1956 to 1965, when he became editorial consultant of Allied Newspapers Ltd, a post he held until 1972.
“In this capacity he continued writing his weekly Roamer’s Column – one of the most popular pages of The Sunday Times of Malta, which he had started some five years earlier, leading articles and features and was in charge of special supplements.
“One of these – and one of which George was especially proud – was the one published in the Times of Malta on March 28, 1966 – exactly 50 years ago today – to mark the fourth centenary of the founding of Valletta (the newspaper’s house style then was to refer to it as Valetta).
“Mr Sammut had been planning this for some time, drawing on his family, friends and acquaintances with some of Malta’s leading writers and authorities in their particular field.
“The result was a 52-page special number bristling with highly interesting features on various facets of Valletta’s history, institutions and role as the capital of a newly-independent Malta.
“In fact, the Prime Minister at the time, Dr George Borg Olivier (who was related to Mr Sammut) and was a prominent son of the capital, as was Mr Sammut, wrote an introduction for the special number, while the list of contributors reads like a who’s who of Malta’s intelligentsia of the time.
“Only one of the authors – Dr Albert Ganado – is still alive today. The decision to reprint this outstanding contribution to Melitensia was prompted by Mr Sammut’s son Julian.”
George Cini
“A delightful way to savour the ambiance of the grid-like but steep and stepped streets of Valletta is to ramble along them in the early hours of the day, at 10 in the morning and at eight in the evening, like I did many times.
“Each of these moments tended to verge on the surreal as if the city is a cyber carrier of men and women, boys and girls who navigate around, earnestly trying to zoom in on a haven offering invigorating coffee accompanied by calorie-laden pastizzi, a light lunch, a gourmet dinner or live music, depending on the time of day.
“Valletta has changed from the badly-battered black-attired widow after World War II, to the self-confident bride determined to tackle the challenges that the ravages of time inflicted on her resilient fabric.
“It is a great pity that Valletta suffered an exodus of most of its baby-boomers who either sought pastures new away from this miniscule gem of an isle or else moved out of the comfortable clasp of the curtain of bastions that embrace her.
“Gone are most of the small, quaint coffee shops: the one- or at most, two-man bands who knew clients by their first name and their order – ‘the usual’ – by heart.
“White-haired but bubbly barbers, tailors and cobblers have all but disappeared. Erstwhile itinerant hawkers who trudged to the city from villages miles away to peddle live rabbits, live chickens, bigilla, black mulberries and sfineġ tal-bakkaljaw are no more.
“The vacuum – created with the leaving en masse of its denizens – is now being filled by gentrification, with well-to-do tenants flying in and buying sumptious abodes that in a number of cases were ghostly houses in a state of decay. But this unprecedented influx of money has shot property prices sky high well beyond the reach of the locals.
“The shops along the main thoroughfares now sport international brand names, mostly selling food, coffee, clothes and shoes. A trend which is making Valletta mimic other European capitals. Clinical and devoid of a warm heartbeat.
“New businesses seem to appear overnight, some with bizarre if exotic-sounding names, blazoned, at times, on garish shop signs. But what will help the city survive this new ‘siege’ facing Valletta will be those entreprenuers capable of resurrecting the old world charm Valletta was known for.
“It is that charm which will tempt people to visit and come to love this architectural treasure. Without it, de Valette’s grandiose project will be like most other cities. Lively but lifeless.”