Bernard Vasallo begins his letter to The Sunday Times of Malta (August 11) thus: “Porta Reale of 1580 by the Maltese architect Tommaso Dingli has had a chequered and sad history”.

Since Tumas Dingli was not yet born in 1580, this is clearly an incorrect statement.

I know of no contemporary documentation that details who precisely built whatever was standing at Porta Reale in the 1580s.

For various reasons, however, my best judgement tells me that what was present at that time (at least the stone arched bridge that survives to this day) is most likely the work of Girolamo Cassar – rather than of Laparelli.