Valletta exists because of four months in 1565. A city built from nothing, on a bare peninsula, by a religious military order that had just survived one of the most brutal sieges in European history — and built specifically so it could never happen again. It is the most concentrated piece of urban history in the Mediterranean: a fortified Renaissance grid, laid out by a pupil of Michelangelo, containing a cathedral floor made of four hundred dead knights and the only painting Caravaggio ever signed.
The Great Siege of 1565
The Knights Hospitaller had been driven from Rhodes by the Ottomans in 1522 and granted Malta in 1530. In May 1565 the Ottoman Empire came to finish the job, landing a force conventionally numbered in the tens of thousands against a defending garrison of a few hundred knights and several thousand Maltese militia and Spanish troops.
The Ottomans went first for Fort St Elmo, the small star fort at the tip of the peninsula, expecting it to fall in days. It held for roughly a month and was annihilated doing so — the Ottoman commander Dragut, one of the most feared corsairs of the age, was mortally wounded during the bombardment. The defence then fell back on Birgu and Senglea, where Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette — then in his seventies — held through the summer until a relief force from Sicily, the Gran Soccorso, landed in September and the siege broke.
The consequence was architectural. St Elmo’s sacrifice proved the peninsula was the strategic key, and the Order resolved to fortify it properly.
A City Designed in One Go
The foundation stone was laid by La Valette in 1566. The plan came from Francesco Laparelli, a military engineer who had worked under Michelangelo on St Peter’s, and it is unusually pure: a rectilinear grid imposed on a rocky peninsula, ringed by bastions, with straight streets running to the sea on both sides — partly for defence, partly so the wind would scour them clean.
Laparelli left Malta within a few years; execution passed to his Maltese assistant Girolamo Cassar, who designed many of the auberges — the residences of the Order’s different national “langues” — and gave the city its severe early character. La Valette himself died in 1568 and is buried in the city that carries his name.
Valletta was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It is often described, in a line attributed to Disraeli, as a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen.
St John’s Co-Cathedral, and the Caravaggio
From outside it is a plain, fortress-like box. Inside it is one of the most overwhelming Baroque interiors in Europe — every surface carved, gilded and painted, with a vaulted ceiling by Mattia Preti.
Look down. The floor is composed of roughly 400 inlaid marble tomb slabs, each marking a knight, worked in coloured stone with skeletons, trumpets, coats of arms and mottoes on mortality. You are walking on the Order’s dead.
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
In the Oratory hangs the painting that justifies the trip on its own. Caravaggio arrived in Malta in 1607 as a fugitive — he had killed a man in Rome — and was received into the Order. In 1608 he produced this altarpiece: at roughly 3.7 by 5.2 metres it is the largest canvas he ever painted, and it is the only work he is known to have signed.
The signature is the detail that stops people. He wrote his name in the blood running from the Baptist’s severed throat — f. Michelang.o — the “f.” standing for fra, brother, his title as a knight. Within months of finishing it he was in a brawl, imprisoned, escaped the island, and was expelled from the Order in absentia as, in the Order’s own phrase, a foul and rotten member. The Oratory also holds his Saint Jerome Writing.
Practical note: the cathedral charges admission, includes an audio guide, and stiletto heels are banned to protect the tomb floor. Photography rules are enforced in the Oratory.
What Else to See
- The Upper Barrakka Gardens — the view over the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities. The Saluting Battery fires below at noon and 4pm.
- Fort St Elmo & the National War Museum — where the siege began, and where Malta’s George Cross is displayed.
- The Grandmaster’s Palace and its armoury.
- Casa Rocca Piccola — a still-inhabited noble house, and the best sense of domestic life behind the facades.
- The Three Cities (Birgu, Senglea, Cospicua) across the harbour — where the siege was actually fought. Take the traditional dgħajsa boat across.
Guided Tours Worth Considering
Valletta rewards a guide more than most cities, because the siege narrative and the cathedral’s symbolism are not self-evident from signage.
Valletta Walking Tours & St John’s Co-Cathedral
Guided walks of the fortified city, generally including the Co-Cathedral and the Grand Harbour viewpoints, with the Great Siege story told in the places it happened.
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Where to Stay in Valletta
Staying inside the walls is the move — the day-trippers and cruise passengers leave by evening and the city becomes remarkably quiet.
Continue the Malta story with our guides to Mdina, the old capital, and to Malta’s megalithic temples.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Valletta built?
After the Great Siege of 1565, the Knights of St John resolved to fortify the peninsula whose small fort, St Elmo, had proved strategically decisive. The foundation stone was laid in 1566 and the city was designed as a single planned fortress-city by Francesco Laparelli.
Where is Caravaggio’s Beheading of Saint John the Baptist?
In the Oratory of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Painted in 1608, it is the largest canvas Caravaggio produced and the only work he signed – his name written in the blood from the Baptist’s throat.
Is St John’s Co-Cathedral worth the admission?
Yes. Beyond the Caravaggio, the interior is one of Europe’s great Baroque spaces and the floor is made of around 400 inlaid marble tombs of knights. Note that stiletto heels are not permitted, to protect the floor.
How long do you need in Valletta?
A full day covers the Co-Cathedral, Fort St Elmo, the Barrakka Gardens and the main streets. Two days lets you add the Three Cities across the harbour, where the 1565 siege was actually fought.
More on Malta & Gozo
Sources & Further Reading
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — City of Valletta
- St John’s Co-Cathedral — official page on the Caravaggio
- Britannica — Jean Parisot de la Valette
