Cittadella

During the Middle Ages, the acropolis was converted into a fortified castle which served as a refuge for the inhabitants during corsairs’ attacks. By the 16th Century, most of the castle’s defensive walls became obsolete, and a major reconstruction of the southern side was undertaken between 1599 and 1622. The delineation of the northern medieval walls was largely retained and integrated into the revamped military architecture, transforming the old modest Castello into an imposing gunpowder fortress.

The present fortifications are a combination of an early seventeenth century bastioned enceinte ‘alla Italiana’ and the remains of earlier medieval walls. Cittadella’s bastioned enceinte was built from around 1600 to 1622, replacing the southern and most vulnerable section of an earlier medieval perimeter. The new ramparts were designed by the Italian military engineer Giovanni Rinaldini and consisted of a central bastion linked by curtains two demi-bastions and stiffened by two small cavaliers. Externally, the enceinte was enveloped by a low ditch, a covertway and a very steep glacis. With the exception of the glacis, all the original elements have survived largely intact, making the Cittadella one of the most complete and authentic early-seventeenth century bastioned fortification systems to be seen in the Maltese islands. Built largely of hardstone, the masonry fabric was nonetheless consumed through erosion and other pathological factors and required restoration, while the ditch was engulfed in rampant vegetation and the covertway and counterscarp badly damaged and consumed.