HUMANITIES – Anno 1, Numero 2, Giugno 2012

DOI: 10.6092/2240-7715/2012.2.100-115

Carmelina Gugliuzzo
The opening of the harbour, the closing of the
walls: urban history of two Mediterranean port
cities

The convenience of a natural harbour, the needs of the maritime trade,

the proximity of the sea and its resources had led the people of Malta and
Messina – at different times – to construct two coastal cities, two port cities.
But, as like all the Mediterranean port cities, the urban solutions are always
ambiguous, always strained in the contradiction between opening and
closing.
One of the problems characterizing the fortification of a coastal city
originates from the port infrastructure that claims conflicting demands on
the seclusion imposed from the Old Regime urban defence. Starting from the
Medieval Age and, a fortiori, after the military revolution in the sixteenth
century, the cities shut themselves to preserve their wealth and their social
construction. The security of their freedom, their collective organization and
the domain of the surrounding area pass through fortifications and walls.
These are the defence against treacherous and dangerous strangers. But in
the port cities urban life is animated by the harbour and this must necessarily
be open to foreigners, thus making the city somewhat vulnerable. The dual
dynamics, the dual intent, are recognized in maximum closing as opposed to
the maximum opening.
Valletta and Messina live this contradiction: it is interesting to analyse the
assumptions and design solutions in these two Mediterranean port cities in
order to respond to their ambiguous identity.
th
The “forma urbis” of Messina in the 16 century is determined by the new
circuit of walls, but there is not only a change in urban aspect, depicted in
engravings and in plants reproducing it during the following three centuries.
“The war, the siege, the military conflict, the assault of the walls are
iconographic theme of great fortune, and following this visual repertoire we

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have any kind of information that may relate to military strategy and to the
shape of city and its defence”1.
To strengthen the walls, “in the inner part of the port” of Messina, since
the time of the Arabs, there was a fortress “which served not only to defend
the city, but, being near the sea, was also the delightful residence of ancient
princes”. It was the royal castle “equipped with three towers, overlooking the
sea, and others on the other side”.
Count Roger d’Hauteville “built in the harbour two towers in ancient
Royal Palace, which get the first place, and the first flag among the other
2
Royal forts” . In 1563, being Viceroy D. Garzia de Toledo, a new
reconstruction of the Royal Palace started “with great ideas and remarkable
architecture”; the Viceroy Duke of Terranova completed the extension of the
building and the Viceroy Filiberto Emmanuele of Savoy in 1623 embedded it
with its “magnificent prospect” in the Maritime “Palazzata”3. The new mobile
siege artillery, which appeared between 15th and 16th centuries, influenced
the mineralization of Europe, making obsolete the huge walls built around
the majority of cities. New walls appeared less tall but more elaborate, and
were incorporated into assemblies of moats, ramparts, parapets and arcades.
The artillery determines, especially in Italy, new fortified forms taking into
account both the lines of defensive fire and the structural strength to the
destructive power of firearms4. In short, the military engineers are trying to
give an answer to what Machiavelli had observed: “the impetus of the
artillery is such that even a very big wall in a few days falls”5. This fact made
dangerous any attempt to continue to defend the city by relying on the
simple resistance of the old walls. The range of new weapons proved

1
C. De Seta, Le mura simbolo della città, in C. De Seta-J. Le Goff (eds.), La città e le mura,
Laterza, Rome-Bari 1989, p.19.
2
Giuseppe Buonfiglio e Costanzo, Messina Città Nobilissima, de’ Franceschi, Venice 1606,
p.3.
3
Finally, the earthquake of 1783 dealt a severe blow to “that superb building”, that semi
ruined drag on its existence up to the middle of the 19th century: P. Arena-Primo, Storia civile
di Messina, Dato, Palermo 1841, pp.209-211. “There is are almost sufficient documentary
information relating to the foundation and the Norman ‘restoration’, the expansion of the
castle during the Aragonese domination, and the reconfiguration of the sixteenth century,
implemented according to the Tuscan architect Andrea Calamech”: D. Sutera, L’iconografia del
Palazzo Reale di Messina, in “Lexicon”, n.1, 2005, p.47.
4
S. Pronti, Produzione e diffusione delle armi nello Stato di Piacenza in età farnesiana:
indicazioni per ricerche, in A. Bilotto-P. Del Negro-C. Mozzarelli (a cura di), I Farnese. Corti,
guerra e nobiltà in antico regime, Bulzoni, Rome 1997, p.492.
5
N. Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio, Florence 1550, p.158.

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impossible to defend by the top the walls. The problem was solved by the
invention of the ramparts; the bastion allowed the defenders to keep each
section of the walls from side positions and thus to strike the enemy's flank
and also to combat under cover6. New fortifications, and artillery that had
favoured their birth, began to consume an increasing share of the wealth of
the city.
The turning point occurred in Messina after the passage of Charles 5th in
1535: born in this period of major historical importance, from military and
town planning standpoint, the new circuit of the walls marks the city
boundaries for three centuries.
The Senate of Messina in June 1537 decided to build new walls and
fortifications, due to the development of the art of war, calling for
supervision of works Antonio Ferramolino from Bergamo, engineer of the
Royal Court, and Domenico Giuntalocchi from Prato, assisted by the
mathematician Francesco Maurolico and the sculptor Giovan Angelo
Montorsoli7. The decision of the municipal government is combined with the
will of Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, to enlarge the circuit of the
fortified city with new walls.
The possibility of an imminent attack of the Ottoman fleet was real and
the city government considered inadequate apparatus and instruments held
to counter the threat and put up a concrete counter-attack. Any reflection on
the Sicilian defence, therefore, considers the need to prevent access to ports
in Messina, Syracuse, Augusta, Trapani, Milazzo and to a lesser extent,
Marsala: these are the sites on which the attention is focused because of their
ability to accommodate an enemy fleet8.
So the government of the Viceroy and the Messina Senate decided to
allocate large sums for the renovation or for new construction of forts,
castles, fortified walls.

6
G. Simoncini, Città e società nel Rinascimento, volume 1, Einaudi, Turin 1974, p.149.
7
“It is still necessary to investigate, for example, except for some interventions in the
works of fortifications of Messina and Palermo, the Sicilian activity of Domenico Giunti”: M.S.
Di Fede, La gestione dell'architettura civile e militare a Palermo tra XVI e XVII secolo: gli
ingegneri del regno, in “Espacio, Tiempo y Forma”, Serie VII, H. del Arte, t. 11, 1998, p.136.
8
L. Dufour, Città e fortificazioni nella Sicilia del Cinquecento, in C. De Seta-J. Le Goff
(eds.), La città, cit., p.108.

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The new walls circuit of Messina not only marks the distinction between
the inside and the outside, but is also a display of power in concrete and
symbolic terms.
This remarkable defence is the main example of the evolution toward the
Renaissance military architecture of the city, or rather the transition from an
old design to a new one.
There is also a strengthening of the sense of security of citizens, who feel
more protected from external attacks and especially from the threat of
assault by the Turks.
Messina citizens then develop a sense of greater municipal autonomy,
which increases their self confidence and brings them to the challenge
against Spain in 1674.
The year 1537 marks a turning point from the previous period. The new
fence was erected by the Viceroy Don Ferrante Gonzaga in the “modern way”
by broadening the existing old fortification. From the old northern walls of
the harbour, where was the fort of San Giorgio a Molovecchio (Old Dock), a
new section of walls was extended until the Fort St. James, afterwards called
Porta Reale (King’s Gate), named for the entry of Don John of Austria, after
the battle of Lepanto in 1571.
The circuit of city walls, with its thirteen ramparts, starts from the sea-
shore, going up from Fort St. James to the other said St. Vincent, in which
there was a small gate for the convenience of the inhabitants of the Village of
St. Leon. From there the circuit joins up the high fort Andria, which is above
the city in its north-western corner.
From the heights of the fort Andria a long curtain surrounds the city in
the western side down to Boccetta Gate, where it is the bastion of St.
Stephen. From there the walls are constructed for the outer fortification of
the fortress Guelfonia.
Guelfonia Castle was a military stronghold inside the walls, the most
important fortress in Medieval Age, ancient and absolutely strategic. This
castle lost much of its value as early as the sixteenth century, becoming de
facto a position, or fortification used for the fighters after a first defence.
Thence along the same line, and passing through the ancient Victory
Tower, and the mountain of Caparrina, afterwards called Montalto, the walls
descend to the Contrada de’ Gentilmeni. Down the circuit meets southward

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the Luscinee torrent with the Gate of Portalegni, so called for the “jus
legnandi” (the right to cut wood) that formerly the Archbishop had on that
territory. Two small bastions defend the gate9. From here, going up the high
hill of Tirone, the walls surround the Jesuits Novitiate, and forming an angle,
go down to the southern side of the city and join the bulwark of the Holy
Spirit, and the Segreto.
It follows an extended curtain, in which there are two gates, the Imperial
and the Eustachia, backed by the bastion of St. Bartholomew. From here the
curtain descends almost straight line, and form the forts Mezzomondello, St.
Clare, and D. Blasco, “propugnaculum contra Mauros”, whose angle is
washed by the sea waves.
Here the circuit ends having the new walls extended on three sides of the
city for five miles10. In the same side of the curtain there is Porta Nuova
(New Gate). Porta Nuova, or Maddalena Gate, is one of the gates opened in
Messina walls on the southern side; outside the walls there is running the
great “fiumara” Zaera.
From Don Blasco Fort, another side of walls faced the South-West to the
Fort St. George, demolished in 1680 for the construction of the Citadel.
But above everything else it is important the castle, which took the name
of Gonzaga, its founder. Erected on a lofty granitic mountain, it dominates
“from that eminence” the city and the harbour and south beach11.
The port, to which Messina is wholly indebted for her prosperity, and
even existence, is formed by a lengthened curved tongue of land. The
entrance on the North is defended on the West, or main-land side, by the
bastion of Porta Reale, and at the extremity of the curved promontory by a
new fortification.
After 1537 it was erected there the Salvatore fort with a new devising
plan, which incorporates the old medieval buildings of the tower of St. Ann
and the Basilian monastery of St. Savior12. The fortress of the Saviour at

9
C.D. Gallo, Annali della Città di Messina, Capitale del Regno di Sicilia, first volume, Gaipa,
Messina 1756, p.91.
10
G. Grosso Cacopardo, Opere, first volume, Scritti minori (1832-1857), G. Molonia ed.,
Società messinese di storia patria, Messina 1994, p.333.
11
G. Grosso Cacopardo, Opere, cit., pp.333-334.
12
N. Zeldes, Incident in Messina: Letters of Ferdinand the Catholic concerning Portuguese
conversos caught on their way to Constantinople, in “Sefarad”, 62 (2002), p.415
(http://sefarad.revistas.csic.es).

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Messina is similar, in its function of controlling access to the port, to the

Colombaia Tower for example, at the entrance of the port of Trapani, the
castle Maniace at the mouth of the harbor of Syracuse, the Castellammare
near the Cala di Palermo and Milazzo Castle, overlooking the harbour city13.
From then on the control of the mouth of the harbour of Messina, “the
little arm of the sea which forms the entrance of the port”14, was full. There
was an immaterial gate open to exchanges with the rest of the world. The
widest mouth of Messina, beyond the gates open to the mainland, was that
of the port, closed at night with a long chain taut between Fort St. Salvatore
and Fort Real Basso, but prompt to be opened, especially for the ships laden
with the first aliment, wheat. Through the great mouth of the port, at the
beginning of the 18th century, it enters an interesting flow of biomass with a
high calorific capacity: the sugar15.
But beyond these vital flows, through the mouth of the harbour can enter
dangerous microbial flows. So, in particular, a port building - that of the
maritime health, the lazaretto - incorporates an ambiguous condition. It
welcomes foreign vessels - potential carriers of epidemic attacks from
outside, even more dangerous than the military ones - and at the same time
it monitors, observes, confines, and then defends the city.
It is possible to recognize in the harbour lighthouse, the Lanterna, similar
ambivalent characteristics to those which would be in the lazaretto. The city
intends to invest in its greatest activity, the maritime trade. The port city of
Messina would build a new tower on St. Raineri promontory; it is precisely
that desire that leads to the decision in 1553 to build a new tower in the far
eastern edge of the city. The next significant iconology of this tower is
unmistakable landmark not only for St. Raineri peninsula, but to represent
the entire city. The Lantern Tower is designed in a midpoint between the fort
of St. Saviour and the rampart of St. George, which had recently been built a
mile south-east on the beach. The work planned by Montorsoli arises under
the sign of duplicity: it announces an invitation to the refuge harbour and

13
L. Dufour, Città e fortificazioni, cit., p.118.
14
A.L. Castellan, Letters on Italy, London 1820, p.32.
15
L. Iaria, La Fata Morgana: politica asburgica e portofranco, in Scritti di storia per Gaetano
Cingari, Giuffré, Milan 2001, pp.370-371.

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simultaneously searches the Strait of Messina to communicate the potential

risk16.
Ports have been, for a long time, focal points of local, regional, national
and international economic development and social change. The projection
to the hinterland, and, at the same time, to an extended vorland, as Amélia
Polónia argues, led seaports history to become a significant field of research
to support the study of evolving trade networks, as well as technological and
industrial development and social and urban changes. So, seaports are no
longer studied exclusively as ‘infrastructures or economic centres’, but as a
really complex system, resulting from economic, political, social and cultural
forces; the gateways between land and sea, between the hinterland and the
so called vorland, a nodal axis with repercussions on the territorial,
economic, social and mental structures17.
The role played by Euro-Mediterranean seaports in the Early Modern
period seems undeniable. Among the Mediterranean countries, the Maltese
archipelago played a great role. The Maltese islands were close to the major
maritime routes throughout history and they were often on the border
between clashing military, political, religious, and cultural entities. For these
reasons, the islands were presumed to have been strategically and
economically important, and, thus, frequented by ships.
The Maltese archipelago is so situated in the narrows between Europe to
the north and Africa to the south so as to be the key position is further
enhanced by the two excellent harbours found on the east coast, Marsamxett
and the Grand Harbour, the latter amongst the finest natural harbours on the
18
globe . The Grand Harbour - il-Port il-Kbir - in Malta is essentially a natural
harbour which is probably the island's greatest geographic asset, and a

16
N. Aricò, La torre della Lanterna di Giovannangelo Montorsoli, Gbm, Messina 2005,
pp.29-32.
17
A. Polónia, European seaports in the Early Modern Age: concepts, methodology and models
of analysis, in “Cahiers de la Méditerranée” [En ligne], 80|2010:
http://cdlm.revues.org/index5364.html.
18
R. Ghirlando, S. Mercieca, M. Renault (eds.), La navigation du savoir. Étude de sept
arsenaux historiques de la Méditerranée, Malta University Publishers, Malta 2006.

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cardinal determinant of Malta's history19. This is reflected in its commercial

20
activity and its military architecture .
The analysis of the change of the relation between Maltese people and the
sea is fundamental to understand their projection towards the external
world.
In the winter of 1522 Europe watched the Rhodian fortifications quake
21
and shake slowly towards destruction by the Ottomans . On December 24th,
following six months of fighting, the Turks took possession of the island of
Rhodes. After the loss of this land, the Knights of the Order of St. John were
left without a home. The expulsion of the Order of Saint John from its base
in Rhodes and its arrival in Malta was a turning point in history both for the
Knights and the island.
Malta was a safe distance from Europe but close to the Barbary Coast.
Charles V also introduced a new set of rules to keep the Knights under very
strict control22.
Unlike their unchecked freedom in Rhodes, in Malta the Knights were not
only vassals of the King of Spain, but they were forced to renew their
homage via the King of Sicily every year23.

19
For a complete framework related to the history of the Maltese harbours since Antiquity
see: T. Gambin, Ports and port structures for Ancient Malta, in R. Turchetti-L. de Maria (eds.),
Le strutture dei porti e degli approdi antichi, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2004, pp. 159-174;
Id., Malta and the Mediterranean shipping lanes in the Middle Ages, in R. Turchetti-L. de Maria
(eds.), Rotte e porti del Mediterraneo dopo la caduta dell’Impero romano d’Occidente,
Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2004, pp. 115-134.
20
See. F. Borchardt-N. Jaspert-H. J. Nicholson (eds.), The Hospitallers, the Mediterranean
and Europe, Ashgate, Aldershot 2007.
21
V. Mallia-Milanes, Charles V’s Donation to the Order of St. John, in “Peregrinationes”, vol.
II, 2001 online: www.orderofmalta.int/.../Charlesv_donation.pdf. The Order had
transformed Rhodes into one enormous fortress. Stout walls and huge citadels were built
to keep watch over the coasts.
22
The conditions attached to the donation were harsher than expected. To Malta and
Gozo, Charles V now added the North African city and fortress of Tripoli which had been in
Spanish hands since 1510.
23
“Many difficulties however occurred, before the acceptance of this offer was finally
determined on. Charles had coupled with the gift, several conditions that could not be
entertained, and the intervention of the Pope for the mitigation could not, for some time,
be made available, as he was then at war with the Emperor. Peace however having at
length been declared, the Pope, who had himself been in former days a Knight of St. John,
and had abandoned the Order, to pursue that ecclesiastical career, which raised him to the
Papal chair, under the title of Clement VII, exerted his influence to obtain for his protégés

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The Hospitallers had had an investigation made into the state of the
island, which did not impress them very well. The first commission sent by
the Grandmaster in 1524 to report on Malta’s potential as a base concluded
that Malta had three fundamental disadvantages: food had to be imported,
the existing fortifications were old and in need of repair, and the local
population was not large enough to provide an adequate defense force.
Malta was described as lacking in trees, very hot and short of drinking water
in summer with stony fields and suffering attacks from pirates and corsairs.
The only town of any size was Mdina (literally, in Arabic, ‘the City-fortress’),
a walled city on high ground in the centre of the island which dated back to
Roman times. Around this was Rabat, ‘the suburb’. The Maltese government
of the island was based at Mdina (also known as the Città Notabile): the
government was known as the Università. If before 1530 the islands’ political
and administrative centre was necessarily located in or around inland Mdina,
by way of contrast, the Hospitallers exploited Malta’s spacious Grand
Harbour. In fact, according to the commissioners the only positive element
was the condition of the coast: two very large and deep inlets could host
numerous ships of notable tonnage and size. The two ports could be used
immediately to offer more than adequate refuge for the fleet, allowing also
to manoeuvre with ease. The problem regarding the installation of the war
fleet was a decisive factor especially if we consider that the defence of the
island was initially to be entrusted to the fleet in case of attack.
With the coming of the Order of St. John, Birgu was chosen to be their
city. So it was greatly improved and restored the Knights’ requirements,
Auberges for the various languages of the Order, a hospital, new law courts
and other palaces sprung everywhere24.
One of the most urgent tasks to be undertaken by the Order upon its
arrival in Malta was to reinforce the fortifications. The inadequacy of the
defences became apparent after the Ottoman siege of 1565. “The Ottoman

a mitigation of the terms, which shackled the proffer made by the Emperor”: W. Porter, A
History of the Fortress of Malta, P. Cumbo, Malta 1858, pp. 42-43.
24
“The coming of the Knights and their choice of Vittoriosa [Birgu] rather than Mdina as
their centre of government greatly stimulated the life of what had previously been a small
fishing port. Piracy had been a major source of income for the Knights since their days in
Rhodes, but they also encouraged Maltese captains to apply for privateering licenses; they
were allowed to fly the flag of the Order (a white cross on a red field), and had to pay 10
per cent of their profits to the Grand Master”: D. Abulafia, The Great Sea. A Human History
of the Mediterranean; Penguin, London 2011, p. 435.

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choice of targets depended upon a number of relatively inflexible physical

restrictions imposed by the inherent limitations of galley fleets”25.
The Christian states competed among themselves to secure information;
they routinely circulated dispatches that served their particular political and
military interests: thus the Knights of Malta frequently exaggerated the
threat from the Levant in order to secure men and provisions from Sicily.
After the Great Siege, the urgent need to rebuild Fort St. Elmo, and to
construct an impregnable fortified city heralded a new phase in the island’s
defences. These new works were undertaken at a stage when the debate on
26
fortress design was focusing on ever more specific problems .
Grandmaster Jean Parisot de la Valette built Valletta after the Great Siege
of 1565. He realized the Knights needed a new city with strong defences in
case the Turks returned. The architects of Valletta were Francisco Laparelli, a
pupil of Michelangelo, and Girolamo Cassar. Francisco Laparelli chose the
Sciberras peninsula as the site of the Knights’ new city. The Sciberras
peninsula, with its elevation above the harbour and its narrow connection to
the mainland, provided natural defences. To further enhance these defences,
the architects planned a series of walls and ditches. France, Spain, Portugal,
and the Papacy donated large amounts of money to the Knights to construct
Valletta27.
Construction began on March 28, 1566. Although La Valette started the
construction, he died in 1568 and did not live to see the completion of the
city named in his honour.
According to Alison Hoppen, “only with the building of Valletta in the
years after 1566 did the knights finally commit themselves to Malta as a
28
permanent base” .

25
J. F. Guilmartin, Gunpowder and Galleys. Changing Technology and Mediterranean
Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1974, p.
177.
26
These temporary constructions and the evolution of the Great Siege battles are
described in deep detail by Francesco Balbi da Corregio in his memoirs La verdadera
relación de todo que el anno de MDLXV ha succedido en la Isla de Malta, printed in Barcelona
in 1568.
27
A. Hoppen, Military Priorities and Social Realities in the Early Modern Mediterranean:
Malta and its Fortifications, in V. Mallia-Milanes, Hospitaller Malta, 1530-1798, Mireva
Publications, Malta, 1993, pp. 399-428.
28
A. Hoppen, The Fortification of Malta by the Order of St. John, 1530-1798, Scottish
Academic Press, Edinburgh 1979, p. 23.

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The expansion and fortification of Valletta, named for la Valette, was

begun in 1566, soon becoming the home port of one of the Mediterranean's
most powerful navies. The island’s hospitals were expanded as well. The
main Hospital could accommodate 500 patients and was renown as one of
the finest in the world. At the vanguard of medicine, the Hospital of Malta
boasted Schools of Anatomy, Surgery and Pharmacy.
To protect their headquarters the Hospitallers undertook an extensive
programme of fortification. The building of the new capital and the
reinforcement of the existing fortifications belonged to this programme. For
a military organization like that of the Hospitaller Knights, which sought to
affirm its destiny in stone, the design and the construction of fortifications
assumed great importance. Nowhere was this commitment to build fortresses
so actively pursued as during the Maltese period of the Order’s long military
history. In the 268 years of Hospitaller occupation, the Knights transformed
the Maltese islands from a barren outpost into a front line bulwark of
Christendom, literally an island-fortress in the centre of the Mediterranean
Sea29.
A great number of towers were also built around Malta and Gozo
which served as watch towers. One example is the tall, rocky outcrop
crowned by Lippia Tower (also known as Ta' Lippia or Gnejna Watch
Tower), which dominates Gnejna bay, built in 1637 upon orders by Grand
Master Juan de Lascaris-Castellar. Lippia Tower formed part of the intricate
coastal defence network constructed by the Knights.
The control exerted by the Order and the Catholic authorities was not
only addressed to the so called ‘Infidels’. In Early Modern Malta, the society
of the Grand Harbour was under the control of the Roman Inquisition. Its
aim was to inculcate a sense of correct behaviour and the correct beliefs
expected from a Catholic. The tribunal of Inquisition in Malta had among its
main tasks those of punishing renegades and heretic people, witches, and
looking after Muslims and Jews slaves30.

29
S.C. Spiteri, The Art of Fortress Building in Hospitaller Malta: A Study of Building
Methods, Materials and Techniques, Book Distributors, Malta 2008.
30
The Inquisition in Malta forms part of the Roman Inquisition tribunal that started to
function as a separate tribunal from the Bishop's law courts in 1562. It was due to the advent
of Mgr. Pietro Dusina, that the Roman Inquisition tribunal became distinctly cut off from the
Bishop's jurisdiction.

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Because of the strategic geographic position of the island, the maritime

activities31 of the rulers and of the islanders, a great number of ‘various’
people (often belonging to different religions) got Malta. The dangers
coming from the external world so were not linked only to Barbary corsairs
attacks, or in the name of the Ottomans, but they could derive from the new
ideas circulating in the western world such as Lutheranism and heresy. It
was necessary as strict control of the most ‘contaminated’ place where could
arrive the new ‘enemies’: the Grand Harbour.
The Birgu area was undoubtedly most exposed to heresy, and soon proved
to be contagious, infecting the educated sectors of society. Because of his
residence in the same port, in the small city of Vittoriosa, the Inquisitor had
once settled there a very close monitoring of the port environment, which
consisted of a strict control of entry and exit of vessels. This monitoring was
recommended by the Holy Office itself, which, from Rome, maintained close
relations with all its Inquisitors offices, and particularly with that of Malta:
th
on 5 September 1609, the Holy Office recalled in particular that the
Inquisitor of Malta had absolutely to monitor entry and exit of foreigners in
the cities of Port, and send regular reports to Rome32. The port control was
performed by the religious and lay staff, the service of the Inquisitor, which
was responsible for monitoring the vessels, to attend the registration of
customs entries, apprehend suspects and witnesses to gather prior to trials.
Inquisitorial control was exercised against non-Catholic Christians
(Protestants and Orthodox, or Eastern Christians) and all non-Christians
(Jewish and Muslim slave or free, and especially the renegades)33. It took
place at the same time as the Grand Harbour custom: commercial vessels
should for example be essential to the port authorities and gain a clear
picture of the cargo, catches and persons on board. In the case of ships

31
M. Aymard, Chiourmes et galères dans la Méditerranée du XVIe siècle, in Mélanges en
l'honneur de Fernand Braudel, vol. I, Toulouse, 1973, pp. 49-64; G. Lopez Nadal (ed.), El
comerç alternatiu. Corsarisme i contraban (ss. XV-XVIII), VIII Jornades d'Estudis Històrics Locals,
Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics, Palma de Mallorca 1989.
32
C. Cassar, Witchcraft, sorcery, and the Inquisition: a study of cultural values in Early
Modern Malta, Mireva Publications, Malta 1996; A. Bonnici, Medieval and Roman Inquisition in
Malta, RUH, Malta 1998.
33
Questions of religious identity arose concerning Maltese sailors who had been captured
by Muslims and who may have converted to Islam. The local parishes encouraged the Maltese
people to denounce blasphemers, sorcerers, and heretics to the tribunal. These denunciations
reflect village conflicts and tensions. These circumstances also suggest that the greatest
challenge facing the foreign-born Inquisitors was not eradicating heresy but understanding the
language of the islanders.

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leaving and returning to Malta, the Customs officers compare the list of
arrival and departure to that record all newcomers, both embedded during
stops. The familiares and commissioners of the Holy Office could attend the
registration and take note of the suspects, but in most cases, the custom
officers are responsible to denounce to the familiares the non-Catholics or the
renagades.
A stricter control was reserved to ships and galleys coming back with a
remarkable number of booties and Muslim captives. When the slaves entered
the port and appeared before the Customs officers, were normally already
counted by the writer of the galley, and recorded in the register. But it was
on arrival in the port, when all hope of escape seemed lost, that are most
often discovered the renegades. In the case the renegades did not admit their
apostasy, they were often denounced by crew members, who had suspected
them during the trip. This immediate control, practiced upon the arrival of
any ship in the port of Malta, was a permanent religious supervision, sought
by the Inquisition that regularly called the inhabitants of the island to an
anonymous denunciation34.
A new and important phase of fortifications in Malta began in 1669,
partially in response to the Ottoman occupation of Candia. A decision was
made to reinforce the Floriana Line with what essays of the period claimed to
be the most effective external work, the crowned hornwork. Fear of a
possible Ottoman siege moved the Knights to construct a new line of defense
(the Cottonera Line) on the other side of the harbour, opposite to La
Valletta; this design circumscribed the hills of Sta Margherita and San
Salvatore, and the half finished Margherita Line35.
We cannot analyse the history of this Mediterranean archipelago without
considering the importance of its evolution from a strategical and
technological point of view. The arrival of the Order on the island changed
the perspective of the maritime and military policies.
According to the military historian John A. Lynn, in Malta warfare is
understood also as a cultural expression. It means that the motivation for
war and the way it is conducted - taking into account not just the code of
conduct of warriors but also the choice of technology employed and other
34 e e
A. Brogini, L’Inquisition, élément de l’identité maltaise (XVI -XVII siècles), in «Cahiers de la
Méditerranée» [En ligne], 66|2003: http://cdlm.revues.org/index96.html.
35
Q. Hughes, Fortress: Architecture and Military History in Malta, Lund Humphries,
London 1969.

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material and strategic considerations - must be understood as belonging to a

cultural context of the times and whether there was a correlation between
cultural change and the Order’s discursive change on warfare (if such a
change actually occurred)36. Michel Fontenay writes, quoting Louis XIV’s
minister, Colbert, “the knights on the galleys in reality act as soldiers”.
Fontenay argues that it was a well known fact that maritime matters were
left in the hands of the mariners, mostly Maltese, and that they were the real
37
men with talent on board .
Another element which contributed to the building of the Order identity,
and above all of the Maltese archipelago identity, was the introduction of a
new health policy, which played a sort of game of chess opening and closing
the harbours and controlling the arrivals and the departures to and from
38
these islands .
The establishment of Manoel island as a temporary quarantine hospital –
or Lazzaretto – took place during the plague epidemic of 1593. The little
island in the middle of Marsamxett harbour was an ideal place for the
segregation of contaminated cargo, passengers and crews, and its proximity
to the Grand Harbour rendered its control feasible. Grandmaster Lascaris
erected a permanent Lazzaretto on the same site in 1643, which later was
enlarged. The main function of the Lazzaretto was to segregate incoming
passengers as well as imports from areas where the plague was considered
endemic, or from ports that were known to be currently infected.
By the end of the seventeenth century, reports of military engineers
presented to the ‘Consiglio di Guerra’ pointed out that the Isolotto could
represent a threat to the security of Valletta. Several proposals were made to
fortify the Isolotto, and the urgent need for such a Fort was further
highlighted by military engineer Charles-François de Mondion in 1715. The
decision to fortify the Isolotto was finally made in
1723 and a ceremony was organized on the 14th September, of the same
year. During this period, Grandmaster Manoel De Vilhena sponsored the
construction of a fort on the islet, later called Fort Manoel after the Grand

36
J. A. Lynn, Battle. A History of Combat and Culture, Westview Press, Oxford 2003, p. xvi.
21
M. Fontenay, Corsaires de la foi ou rentiers du sol? Les Chevaliers de Malte dans le «corso»
méditerranèen au XVII siècle, in “Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine”, XXXV, 3,
(1988), p. 372.
38
G. Restifo, I porti della peste. Epidemie mediterranee fra Sette e Ottocento, Mesogea,
Messina 2005.

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Master who built it and thereafter the whole island was called Manoel Island.
The Fort was designed to prevent an enemy from taking the high ground at
the tip of the island and firing out Valletta.
The new Lazzaretto on Manoel Island was planned in accordance with the
best concepts of quarantine measures prevailing at the time. It occupied the
block of buildings now called “Old Palace” and provided accommodation for
groups of passengers or families undergoing different periods of observation
and isolation.
There were ample stores and warehouses for merchandise originating
from infected ports. There were facilities for disinfection, for fumigation for
spiritual comfort, the Grand Master having erected a chapel on the opposite
side of the harbour39.
The quarantine regulations issued by the Council of the Order were very
comprehensive and strict; they were incorporated in the Statute Book of the
Order and were enforced by an authority called the Commissioners of
Health.
The Commissioners of Health had ample means to enforce their authority.
They had under their command patrol boats carrying gun crews and fully
armed soldiers to police the harbour. The staff under the Commissioners of
Health consisted of Guardians of Health some of whom did duty afloat;
others were employed at the Lazzaretto. In addition to the Guardians of
Health, there were the crews of the patrol boats and of the watch boats; the
latter kept a constant watch on ships held in quarantine. On the 23rd
December 1782, Grand Master De Rohan appointed a Commission to revise
the laws of Malta, and a code of laws for municipal affairs was published in
1784. The new Code empowered judges to inflict severe penalties not only
for the perpetration of, but also for any attempt to commit, quarantine
offences, in conformity with the principle: “Sola facti veritate inspecta more
militari”40.

39
That chapel dedicated to St. Roque, the Protector against plague, was built on top of the
bastion; its front was wide open so that the inmates of the Lazzaretto across the harbour could
follow divine service. For further details see: A. Ferris, Descrizione Storica della Chiese di Malta
e Gozo, Malta, 1866.
40
Del Diritto Municipale di Malta, Malta 1784, as quoted in J. Galea, The Quarantine
Service and the Lazzaretto of Malta, in “Melita Historica”, 4 (1966) 3, pp. 184-209.

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It is undeniable the history of Valletta and Messina from the sixteenth to

the eighteenth centuries present evident similarities: the building of
fortifications, the walls reinforcement, the corsairs attacks, the quarantine
stations, the adopted sanitary policies. In conclusion, comparing the
evolution of these two Mediterranean seaports, it is possible to affirm both
Messina and Valletta (with the whole harbour area involving the Three
Cities) shared a common destiny: an ambiguous identity. Two cosmopolitan
realities where goods, people, ideas circulated, but in the port cities urban
life is animated by the port and this must necessarily be open to foreigners,
thus making the city somewhat vulnerable. Messina and the Maltese capital
city lived this contradiction.

© 2012 dall’Autore/i; licenziatario Humanities, Messina, Italia.

Questo è un articolo ad accesso aperto, distribuito con licenza Creative Commons
Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0
Humanities, Anno I(2012), numero 2
DOI: 10.6092/2240-7715/2012.2.100-115
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