Unlike Vittoriosa that still boasts of its unique three-gate bent entrance to this walled city, Valletta is gate-less as on the design of Renzo Piano.

I wonder why the Times of Malta very often persists in calling the entrance to our capital city as ‘City Gate’ when none exists. Of course even the Maltese version Putirjal, a corruption of Porta Reale, is an anachronism.

While Vittoriosa still retains ‘the spirit of place’, in my opinion as an incurable romantic, Valletta can still have an ornate gate befitting ‘a city made by gentlemen for gentlemen’.

This would add lustre and value to the spacious plaza and imposing steps to Piano’s aesthetically beautiful design. In the history of architecture we discover that every period has left its architectural imprint.

The evolution of Valletta reflects the Mannerist, Renaissance, Baroque , eclectic and neo-classical epochs, all blending into a magnificent milieu. Valletta also had its only fascist architecture in the form of its latest gate symbolising that period, which had dominated our politics for a century.

After changing its gate four times in the course of its 440 years of history, it finally disposed of the fascist gate designed by an Italian firm. The last fascist gate has gone down the architectural drain.