Inquisitor Onorato Visconti built his summer residence at Girgenti in 1625. The palace is set within the countryside located within the valley of Għajn il-Kbira. The layout is simple and consists of a series of rooms set along a rectilinear layout.

A veranda joins the palace to the chapel dedicated to San Karlu Borromeo, which was added later in 1763 by the Inquisitor Angelo Durina. The palace has a very plain façade with plain string courses that define the division of the floors.

The openings are also devoid of any decorations and the only decorative element that exists is a slightly projecting plain surround around the windows.

The design of the façade is also lacking in decoration and architectural embellishment. For decades the palace was left in neglect and decay until the late 1980s when it was restored to be used as the official summer residence of the Prime Minister, and in the past few years this palace and its ground were occasionally opened to the public with a huge successful turnout of local visitors.

The Inquisitor’s Palace at Girgenti was included in the Antiquities Protection List of 1932 and was scheduled by Mepa as a Grade 1 national monument as per Government Notice number 1082/09 in the Government Gazette dated December 22, 2009.

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