After months of work, the Valletta ditch garden was finally inaugurated just last night by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The regeneration of the Lapparelli garden below Valletta’s main entrance was part of a larger project to rejuvenate parts of the capital including City Gate, the Triton Fountain and the square.

Valletta’s ditch was cut across the Sceberras Peninsula after the Great Siege of 1565 to protect the city from a land invasion. The other main forts and harbour areas were extensively damaged after the siege, and, fearing further invasions, Pope Pius IV commissioned the renowned architect Francesco Laparelli to design and reinforce the defence of the islands.

Laparelli urge Grand Master La Valette to build a completely new city on the Sceberras peninsula to protect the islands. The ditch was among the first structures to be built.

Jumping forwards to recent years, the ditch was used as an unattractive car park due to parking problems in the city. When the entrance to the Valletta was designed by architect Renzo Piano, it (thankfully) included the abolishment of the car park and the conversion of the ditch into a public garden.

Plans for the ditch to receive some much-need TLC have been shelved and reshelved since 2013. Thankfully, the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation revived the project in 2016 and it was originally planned to be finished before the start of the Valletta 2018 programme for the European Capital of Culture. However, completion delays were pushed, first to July and then to January 2019. All that aside, the garden has now been finished, inaugurated and is finally open to the public!

The new public garden is accessible by a lift from City Gate and a staircase from the Parliament building, as well as the end of the ditch on Great Siege Road.