They’re trying to make Valletta truly baroque

Published: February 13, 2015 at 7:54am

A reader sent this picture to me yesterday afternoon: food stalls outside the Valletta open theatre, in the new square.

I took one look at it, and thought of all the paintings and illustrations of baroque city life – elsewhere if not here in Malta – with crowds of hustlers, tramps, vendors and hawkers crowding against churches, theatres, palaces and grand public buildings, dogs running around inside churches, beggars and urchins.

But we’re supposed to have come a way since then.

stalls near theatre




28 Comments Comment

  1. Volley says:

    Is this a taste of what’s to come when the ‘Monti’ is transferred to Ordnance Street? Mediocrity reigns supreme in this country.

  2. Desperate says:

    Daphne, please remember the magical wish of our Prime Minister to make Malta the best country in Europe.

    I really wish, really. But I see there is minimal chance of reaching even the top 10 with this behaviour. How sad.

  3. Someone says:

    All we need is a fortune teller and a bearded lady… oh wait, maybe Conchita is ready from San Remo.

  4. Rumplestiltskin says:

    The ‘Bieb il-Belt’ area will soon turn into a nightmarish scene straight out from the feverish imagination of Breughel.

  5. rjc says:

    Carnival time has become the time to stay as far away as possible from Valletta.

  6. Just Me says:

    Barberini succeeded where the barbarians failed.

  7. Just Me says:

    No one noticed that Luciano Busuttil went missing when they took the headcount at the Centru Nazzjonali Laburista at Mile End.
    http://www.illum.com.mt/ahbarijiet/kronaka/40380/arrestata_moga_flimsida#.VN3almw5CeY

  8. Jozef says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150213/local/richard-england-pleads-for-pianos-project-to-be-retained-in-its-entirety.555844

    “Only a master architect of the stature of Renzo Piano could have turned Malta stone in Malta lace.”

  9. WhoamI? says:

    Rosianne Cutajar jonqos, tarma stand tal-banana.

  10. RF says:

    or burlesque

  11. Bob Vella says:

    Only in Morocco…whoops sorry, I mean Malta.

  12. Jozef says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150206/timestalk/watch-the-renzo-piano-project-did-it-hit-the-right-note.555051

    Enjoy the video.

    At 7.00, ‘politics have been qualified as the most important aspect of public life and that’s wrong’.

    One minor objection what the nature of polis can be and at 8.00 she goes on to insist politics should be given ‘pride of place in St.George’s Square’.

    Chirp chirp…

    Don’t be silly Chris, what you’re saying is that Valletta can never be an extended capital. Ever driven up St.Anne’s with Castille astride the war memorial?

    At 14.30, still on about the Piazza d’Armi, too bad it was built over due lack of planning ‘holistiku’, including a garrison with two of the grandest staircases either side. And that’s the supposed gate she deems original.

    Is the woman mad or just plain contradicting herself to keep up with appearances?

    19.00 ‘uwrur vakwu, ehm ehm….ngannati’ Totally immune, or so she hopes, to the dynamics of space, preferring a structure with its back to the cavalier than making it physically accessible from the entrance.

    Maybe she forgets the sketch posted on her Facebook page showing her piazza d’armi, baroque Maltese personalities in a neat semi circle, somehow lifted to the level of the cavalier’s entrance. Escher wouldn’t have done better.

    And at 22.00 the great liberal death wish comes forth, ‘that’s your opinion, I have mine’. then goes all autocratic into the most perverse notion of laws hindering their own revision.

    No wonder parliament should have its place in her begonia ridden, magnolia cosmos.

    The problem she has is clear, at heart a reactionary bigot.

    Wasted 20 minutes of my time.

  13. Alexander Ball says:

    Kenneth Zammit Tabona: caught between baroque and a hard place.

  14. Mark Mann says:

    Ghamilli HODDOG ras…..

  15. Giraffa says:

    You can rest assured they will leave their burnt oil/ketchup signature on the new hardtone paving.

    • etil says:

      The least they could do is place a mat so there would be no oil spills on the paving but why am I always dreaming that there are people with civic pride. All they think of is money, money.

  16. unbennant says:

    I particularly love the inside-out Coca Cola umbrella and the black cardboard box.

  17. Tal-Malja says:

    Any designated area for barbecues?

  18. Socrates says:

    Dak li ghaddej u li qed nisimghu bhalissa dwar l-imbarazz f’mohh il-Gvern Laburista sabiex jirvina dak li wisq probabbli huwa l-akbar progett li qatt sar fil-Belt Valletta sa minn zmien il-Kavallieri sal-lum huwa sintomatiku mal-Partit Laburista: kompromessi u hmerijiet akkost li jitwarrbu valuri, principji u ghazliet favur dak li hu sew u xieraq.

    Dak li qed issofri minnu l-kultura, l-arkitettura u affarijiet li jaghmlu sens ghal pajjizna jirrifletti Prim Ministru u Kabinett marbutin minn ghonqhom ghax qabel l-ahhar elezzjoni generali ippruvaw jixtru mohh u ruh kulhadd ghal voti. Issa ma humiex qed jiddejqu jiprostitwixxu l-principji u jirvinaw il-belt kapitali taghna.

  19. Denis says:

    Yep, nearer to the gutter.

  20. aidan says:

    U ija Londra ma jsajrux il-qastan fit-toroq, hi.

  21. Watcher of lies says:

    Muscat’s aim is to degrade that beautiful architecture as much as possible. He just cannot stand such beautiful work carried out under Gonzi’s watch. He would make a secret deal with ISIS to see this monument destroyed. But he cannot.

  22. Mobi says:

    On another subject, Peppi Azzopardi must be a lucky man. As long as wierdos in the likes of Angelik continue to crop up, he will surely find a way to entertain on a Friday night.

  23. Tal-Malja says:

    La it-tejatru bla saqaf, majtezwell noqoghdu hawn barra.

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