Stop 22 of 25
Casa Rocca Piccola
A palazzo still lived in
Keep going
Stop one of Valletta plays straight away. The other 24 are one payment:
- Every stop from here to The Siege Bell & Lower Barrakka, narrated
- The map following you from stop to stop, hands free
- The whole tour saved to your phone — no signal, no roaming
Not sure yet? Start with City Gate & the Ditch.
The written guide below is open either way.
Guide to Casa Rocca Piccola
A sixteenth-century palazzo on Republic Street, built for an Italian knight and admiral of the Order, that has been the home of the de Piro family for over a century and is the only palace in Valletta both lived in and open to visitors. Beneath the courtyard is one of the largest private air-raid shelters in the city.
The balconies
The enclosed wooden balconies along this stretch of Republic Street, glazed and cantilevered out on carved stone brackets, are the most Maltese feature of the city, and their origin is uncertain; the likeliest sources are Arab North Africa and southern Spain. They were few in Valletta before the eighteenth century and are now hard to avoid.
The house
Casa Rocca Piccola was built in the 1580s for Don Pietro La Rocca, an Italian knight and admiral of the Order; the name distinguishes it from a larger house he owned nearby. The de Piro family have lived here for over a century, and the present marquis and his family still occupy the upper floors.
Fifty rooms include the family chapel, dining rooms, a library, silver, lace and costume, and eighteenth-century sedan chairs. Unlike most great houses open to the public, this one is used: the furniture is sat on and the photographs are recent.
The shelter
As the bombing started, a shelter was cut into the rock under the courtyard for the family, among the largest private shelters in Valletta. The rooms and ventilation shafts survive and are part of the visit. It is a corrective to the operations rooms elsewhere on the walk: for most people in the city the war was spent in holes like this.
What to look at
- The enclosed wooden balconies on the houses either side, on carved stone corbels
- The plain doorway — the grandeur is all upstairs
- The coat of arms over the door
Practical
- Visiting
- Guided tours on the hour through most of the day, admission charged. The shelter is reached by steps.
- Terrain
- Level along Republic Street.
Walk to stop 23 · Fort St Elmo & the War Museum
Continue along Republic Street to its end, where the buildings stop and the fortifications begin, then round to the fort's main approach on Mediterranean Street. Stay outside the ticketed entrance.
About 7 min · 403 m