Great expectations: Valletta before 2018

The crowds really hit Valletta these pre-Christmas shopping days. The dazzling Christmas decorations, the dressed up shop windows, the crowds themselves and the assorted entertainments to be had – all make for an enjoyable evening out.

There is more, of course. The way Valletta has changed in our lifetime from the grim Kingsgate of my childhood, with the urine-scented two side tunnels through which we all had to pass.

Maybe the Renzo Piano Parliament still rankles with many but it is indisputable that the entrance to the city has gained in elegance. Soon we will complement this by the space outside the walls around the Tritons fountain. It is a pity this will be opened for the Valletta 18 celebrations but not for the Christmas shoppers (although it is already better than the rough track we had to walk on until some days ago).

It is not just the government that has done its share to beautify Valletta. The new boutique hotels sprouting all over the place, with more to come, has come not a moment too late. (Although while congratulating the AX Group for its two hotels, one asks when do they think they will be able to resurrect that Verdala relic at tal-Virtu after all these years of negligence?)

More than the capital city, the seat of government, and the Law Courts, Valletta has also become the city of new and attractive restaurants. Parties take to its streets to drink and mingle – on Friday two sizeable crowds blocked upper Republic Street and also South Street. There are new venues in places like the resurrected Strada Stretta and the other side streets especially those with views of Grand Harbour.

Soon, we are promised a new foodie mecca in the renovated old Suq, based on the San Miguel in Madrid (though probably with a tweak or two). Many are Italian or Sicilian who have brought over with them their welcome regional cuisine. As for Maltese venues, my impression is that these have remained rather static, though I stand to be corrected.

Valletta is made for walking – an astonishment considering its hills and its streets with steps. The streetscape is unreservedly Baroque and although a number of houses and palazzi have been renovated, there must be double the number still in ruins. Sometimes derelict balconies hang over top-notch shops, both in Republic Street and Merchants Street. The government inducements to restore old buildings do not seem to have persuaded many owners.

There are many restoration projects going on – from the Grand Masters’ Palace to the Auberge d’Italie, which will become the Museum of Fine Arts during this Valletta 18 year (I cannot bring myself to call it MUZA) to the St John’s Museum, now sensibly closed off by hoardings.

But the Valletta of the past centuries has gone. Except for the people living in lower Valletta, the city has become a city of shops and offices and restaurants. It has not attracted its Beltin back. The new developments I have written about have not added to the number of residents. Apart from palaces and churches, Valletta has always been a city of people who gave it its inimitable character. Restaurants and foodie haunts will never replace the genus loci, the people of the city.

I will reserve judgement on the Valletta 18 events when and after they take place. From what I can gather, the events seem mostly to target the Maltese audience. This is different, for example, from the Baroque Festival which has made a name for itself among a specialized international audience.

The year will begin with many unfinished work, from the Tritons Square outside the walls, to MUZA, to the ditch under the bridge entering Valletta. Purists would have expected at least some to be ready in time, but realistically you do not always get what you plan for.

Other projects that were mentioned at some point or other in the past – like the Museum of Contemporary Art down at the old power station site have not been heard about in recent times.

It is usually the custom for a city that has been declared a Capital City of Culture to use some of the funds that become available, plus what they can get from private sector collaboration to do some big project. Liverpool, for instance, renewed the whole seaside wharves. Here, the talk has been on the restoration of The Gut (Strada Stretta) and the Knights’ Abattoir at the far end of the Strada.

The heavy lifting restoration in conjunction with Valletta had already been carried out, such as Upper Fort St Elmo but there has been no word on the restoration of Lower Fort St Elmo. The restoration of the bastions had already been carried out (although the Floriana bastions still await more restoration i).

But what really makes me angry is why bits of the floodlit Valletta bastions have been left in darkness. Of course, that was a work of love by the despicable PN government and many of the spent or even destroyed floodlights were put out of action by vandals perhaps because the floodlights would have rendered visible their illegal activities.

We are told that a government continues with the work began by its predecessor/s but it is not always so. At least the Tritons escaped that destiny.