Two 400-year-old gardens in the capital were opened to the public for the first time this weekend as part of the Valletta Green Festival.

One of the two gardens is located in the heart of St Catherine’s monastery, a 16th century building in Republic Street, which is run by cloistered nuns. The other is within the Archbishop’s Palace, in Archbishop Street.

Presumably because both gardens had never been made accessible to the public before, a large crowd turned up yesterday morning to get a glimpse of Valletta’s so-called ‘secret gardens’. Inside, visitors had the chance to view old gardening tools as well as wooden church pews and a variety of potted plants.

Now in its third year, the Valletta Green Festival is an annual spring event organised by the Valletta 2018 Foundation and this year it also serves to mark the capital’s 450th anniversary.

An opportunity to unlock Valletta’s secrets during Mother’s Day weekend

“The Valletta Green Festival provides an opportunity to unlock Valletta’s secrets during Mother’s Day weekend. It also gives added value to an annual attraction which is growing year on year, contributing to the cultural, social and economic regeneration of Valletta,” Valletta 2018 chairman Jason Micallef said.

He described the event as an example of how the city today merged “contemporary customs and fashions with a rich architectural and historical heritage”.

As part of the festival, over 80,000 flowering plants were set up at St George’s Square to reproduce the outline of one of the early plans of Valletta and its fortifications.

Known as the Infiorata, the large carpet made up of the plants covered an area of 400 square metres. The plants were grown purposely over the past 12 weeks and will be replanted in public gardens and other green areas.