Valletta is the capital city of Malta. It was founded by Jean Parisot de la Valette, the Grandmaster of the Order of Saint John on March 28, 1566. The city's population is 6,315 (in 2005) and it is currently decreasing as people move to the UK, Italy, or the newer areas of Malta.
Valletta
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.
| Valletta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.