Casa Rocca Piccola

Valletta, Malta

Casa Rocca Piccola is a 16th-century palace in Valletta and home of the noble de Piro family. The history of the building goes back over 400 years to an era in which the Knights of St John, having successfully fought off the invading Turks in 1565, decided to build a prestigious city to rival other European capitals such as Paris and Venice. Palaces were designed for prestige and aesthetic beauty in most of Valletta"s streets, and bastion walls fortified the new sixteenth-century city. Casa Rocca Piccola was one of two houses built in Valletta by Admiral Don Pietro la Rocca. It is referenced in maps of the time as 'la casa con giardino' meaning, the house with the garden, as normally houses in Valletta were not allowed gardens. Changes were made in the late 18th century to divide the house into two smaller houses. Further changes were made in 1918 and before the second world war an air raid shelters was added. The Casa Rocca Piccola Family Shelter is the second air-raid shelter to be dug in Malta. In 2000 a major restoration project saw the two houses that make up Casa Rocca Piccola reunited.

Casa Rocca Piccola was designed with long enfilades of interconnecting rooms on the first floor, while leaving the ground floor rooms for kitchens and stables. The house has over fifty rooms, including two libraries, two dining rooms, many drawing rooms, and a chapel.

The house is furnished with collections of furniture, silver and paintings from Malta and Europe. Casa Rocca Piccola houses Malta"s largest private collection of antique costumes.

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Details

Founded: 16th century
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Malta

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Dallas Nairne (Crunchtime365) (7 months ago)
Had a great time here. Staff was extremely attentive and friendly. The building is amazing and has hundreds of years of history. Breakfast was great as well. If you stay do the tour with the Marquis it is very interesting. He will go through his families history and show you a lot of very interesting historical pieces. The price is also very reasonable. Can't recommend this enough. Just so you know there isn't a TV in the room but why would you need a TV in such a beautiful city? Make sure you check out the underground bunker as well.
Ciprian Rusu (7 months ago)
This is a great surprise in the middle of Valletta. You can easily discover it via any map; easy to buy tickets. You can visit the house and the world war II shelters below the house. Nice inner garden and a great surprise in the garage. Worth 1+ hours from your life.
Alina Ionescu (8 months ago)
The first thing to see as a tourist, in my opinion. All perfect. The garden area was my favourite ? the parrot ? Kiku is lovely. 9.50 € is the ticket, doesn't include audio or any help with the translation or extra history details about the building.
Raluca (9 months ago)
Amazing place, definitely recommend visiting it and immersing yourself in the history! When we went, the options were not presented when buying the ticket, but know that you can choose between an audio tour and a guided tour. The guided tour starts from the garden (not sure how often). Added bonus, that's where the adorable parrot is at, so you can spend some time there before the tour starts. They also have an app, but I found it difficult to locate in the app the room I was in, so would recommend to go with the guided tour.
Edy (11 months ago)
An old noble Maltese family from the 16th century were the first owners of this magnificent house. €10 entrance fee, you learn a lot of the house history from a great guide. Basement was used as a shelter against bombs in the world wars and also as a place to pray. Many beautiful old artifacts, well worth a visit.
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