The Argotti Gardens

Abstract

The Knights of Malta bequeathed several famous legacies to the Island during their sojourn in Malta and Bailiff Ignatius Argotte et Gusman was no exception. His bequest to the nation was the Argotti Botanic Gardens in Floriana, popularly known as Il-Gotti. Originally the area which the Argotti occupies used to contain the rest-house of the Bailiff of Acri, Don Emmanuel Pinto de Fonseca, a Portuguese. When Pinto became Grand Master in 1741 the same area was acquired by de Argotte et Gusman. He built his own palace and embellished the site by a beautiful garden. Part of the original palace still exists, however in a dilapidated condition and the same fate has befallen the ornamental grotto once completely lined by corals, pebbles, fragments of coloured glass, etc., and having as a centre-piece a white marble statue of Diana standing on three dolphins themselves resting on a basin· forming a fountain. This marble statue was removed to an unknown destination on May 24, 1984 and no official statement has been issued so far as to its whereabouts.