Casa Rocca Piccola, Valletta : the 16th century home of a Maltese nobleman

Abstract

Welcome to Casa Rocca Piccola at 74 Republic Street Valletta. It is the lived-in home of an ancient Maltese family. The history of Casa Rocca Piccola goes back over 400 years to an era in which the Knights of St. John, having successfully fought off the invading Turks in 1565, decided to build themselves a prestigious city to rival European capitals. Palaces were designed for prestige and aesthetic beauty in most of Valletta's carefully planned streets, and great bastion walls fortified the new 16th century city. The house is named after the first owner, Don Pietro La Rocca, Admiral of the Order of St John in the Langue of Italy. It was, in later years, let to a succession of Italian aristocratic knights and was sold to a Maltese nobleman in the second half of the 18th century. What we are about to see is a house that has been lived in by Maltese families for over 200 years. It is now the home of the 9th Marquis de Piro and his family. The Marquis is also 9th Baron of the Maltese fiefdom of Budach and a Knight of Malta. Frances, the Marchioness, is English. They have four children: Cosmo, Clement, Louisa (Mrs Hugh Preston) and Anton'. Their two young grandchildren are Serafina and Nicholas. Casa Rocca Piccola is not a museum: it is, in a sense, more than that. It is a living relic of a past way of life burdened with the pretensions and aspirations of a Maltese lineage. In preparing the piano nobile rooms for viewing by the public, an effort has been made to change as little as possible. Among the better pieces, there are also numerous items of memorabilia to be seen, not for their artistic merit, but only to contribute reality to the overall scene. The place does indeed house a number of selections including archives, lace, vestments, costume, chessmen, and a quantity of paraphernalia not in the main rooms. Some of these items can be viewed in the basement, in the house museum called 'Costumes & Collections'. There are also two World War II bomb shelters deep underground, cut out of the rock foundation of Valletta. These are described further on. [excerpt]