Valletta
This article is about the capital of Malta. For other meanings, see Valletta (disambiguation).
35.8997222214.51472222Coordinates: 35° 54′ N, 14° 31′ E
Valletta (Maltese also il-Belt Valletta, il-Belt Valetta, Valetta or il-Belt - Italian also La Valletta) is the capital of the Republic of Malta. It is the smallest capital of an EU state, both in terms of area and population. Due to its cultural richness, Valletta was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980 as an overall monument. In 2018, Valletta was European Capital of Culture together with Leeuwarden (NL).
Valletta is considered one of the most historically secured cities in the world, as it is surrounded by a ring of bastions. The southern entrance through the former city gate is covered by St James and St John's Cavalier. Clockwise follow the bastions named after saints, which only look outwards, Michael, Andrew, Salvatore, Sebastion, Gregory, Fort St Elmo, Lazarus, Barbara, Anthony and James. At the time of the Knights' rule on the island, one of the so-called tongues of the Order of Malta was responsible for its defence. Therefore, the corresponding wall sections are also named after the respective tongues (e.g. Arragon-Curtain). The fact that there is also a Lazarus-Curtain allows the assumption that here the Order of Saint Lazarus, a further knight order with almost the same history as the Order of Malta, was responsible. The official seat of the Lazarus order is the Castello Lanzun in San Ġwann on the island Malta.
Geography
Location
Valletta is located on the north-east coast of the island and is situated on the promontory of Monte Sciberras, which is enclosed by the two largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour. Valletta is bordered to the southwest by the neighbouring town of Floriana. In the longitudinal direction (northeast-southwest), Republic Street (formerly Queen's Street) and the parallel Merchants Street have been the main shopping streets since time immemorial.
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Street canyon in Valletta
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Port between Senglea and Vittoriosa, in the background Valletta
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Horse-drawn carriage in front of a typical street in Valletta
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City fortifications of Valletta
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Upper Barrakka Gardens
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View of Valletta (2000)
Climate
Valletta has a Mediterranean climate. There are warm, dry summers with temperatures around 30 °C and humid, mild winters where the values drop to around 15 °C. Because of the island location, the daily temperature differences are usually very small (5 to 10 °C). There are about 519 millimeters of precipitation per year, 81% of which is distributed between October and March. Arid months predominate.
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| Monthly average temperatures and precipitation for Valletta
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Origin of the name
The official name once given to the city by the Order of Malta was Humilissima Civitas Vallettae (Most Humble City of Valletta) after Jean Parisot de la Valette, then Grand Master of the Order. As a city of mighty bastions and baroque buildings, and the splendour of the late Grand Masters, it received the reputation as Superbissima, the most ostentatious of all European cities. In Maltese, Valletta is colloquially known as il-Belt, which simply means the city. The inhabitants are called Beltin.
