Castellania, Baroque courthouse in Valletta, Malta
The Castellania stands on Merchants Street in Valletta and shows a baroque facade of pale limestone with Carrara marble above the entrance. Inside, rooms spread across two floors, with the ground floor now used for shops and the upper level formerly hosting courtrooms.
Francesco Zerafa designed the courthouse between 1757 and 1760 under the rule of the Knights of St John. It replaced an earlier seat from 1572 that had become too small for the growing city.
The name comes from the Castellan of the Knights of St John, who served as a lower court judge. The small upper floor windows recall the prison cells that once occupied those rooms.
The ground floor with its shops is accessible during the day and lies just a few steps from the main axis of Valletta. The surroundings are flat and easy to walk, ideal for a tour between other landmarks in the old city.
The upper floor rooms hosted the Malta Fever Commission in the late 1800s. Researchers identified the agent behind Mediterranean Fever here, which changed how the disease was treated.
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