Studies in Maltese architecture : Romano Carapecchia

Abstract

The joint authorship of this monograph calls for a note of explanation. I first became aware of the richness of the eighteenth-century heritage in Maltese architecture when I was preparing a study on the city of Valletta in 1966, and I confirmed this original impression while collecting the material for, my course of public lectures on Maltese architecture in 1971. It appeared to me to be a fascinating field, crying out for systematic research. Two years ago I persuaded Dennis De Lucca to take up this subject for his B.Arch. dissertation. The almost embarrassing wealth of documentary material around which this monograph was built is just a fraction of what he has managed to ferret out for his more general study. On the whole it has tended to confirm my earlier interpretation of the stylistic evidence, enabling me to incorporate large slices of previously unpublished lecture material with equanimity; but Mr. De Lucca was able to identify with admirable precision the link between the Maltese architecture of the period under study and the Roman Baroque movement. We may be forgiven for thinking that this Architectural Heritage Year is a time for looking outwards as well as inwards, and we take a special pride in publishing this account of the key role played by Carapecchia in drawing Maltese architecture into the mainstream of a great European art movement. Mr. De Lucca' s labours and my own were helped along by the generous assistance and encouragement of a number of personalities. Among these are Dr. V. Depasquale of the Royal Malta Library, Notary A. Attard of the Valletta Notarial Archives, Professt>r W. Ganado and Dr. J. Cauchi, who first pointed out the existence of an album of original drawings by Carapecchia. Our research abroad was made possible by the unstinted support of Professor Sir Anthony Blunt of the Courtauld Institute and Dr. A. Braham of the National Gallery in London, Dr. R. Lewcock of Cambridge University, and Mr. A. Ward, currently working on a Ph.D. thesis in Naples. In Italy we leant heavily on the assistance of Professor Paolo Portoghesi, dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Milan, Professor Pietrangeli of the Musei Capitolini, Professor Pietro Romanelli of the Istituto di Studi Romani and Dr. Marcello del Piazzo of the Archivio di Stato di Roma. The doors of Carapecchia's surviving buildings were invariably opened to us by the various persons responsible; and the Third Year architectural students made the most of this opportunity by recording them in great detail. To all these, our heart felt thanks.