Casa Rocca Piccola

Most of Valletta’s great buildings are museums or churches. Casa Rocca Piccola is something rarer, a noble palace that is still a home. Built in the 1500s for a knight of the Order of St John, the house on Republic Street has belonged to the de Piro family, who hold the title of Marquis, for generations, and members of the family still live in part of it. A visit is a guided walk through the private apartments, furnished as they have been for centuries, with family portraits, silver, antique furniture, paintings, religious objects and the clutter of real life. Visitors often say it feels more like being invited to a very grand house than touring a museum. The tour moves through formal salons and a gentleman’s study to rooms devoted to the family’s collections, among them costumes, lace, silver, toys and children’s clothes, which give you a feel for the habits of Maltese aristocratic life from the Knights’ era through the British period. Period furnishings and carefully arranged displays give the house much of its character. Down in the cellars, the family’s own air-raid shelter, dug into the rock during the Second World War when Valletta was bombed relentlessly, brings the siege of 1940 to 1942 to life, and a quiet walled garden at the back, with fountain and citrus trees, offers a break from the city streets.

Visits are by guided tour, which runs at set times through the day, so it helps to check the schedule and book a slot in advance rather than turning up on the spur of the moment. The guides are knowledgeable and often tell personal anecdotes about the family, and the tour takes about forty-five minutes to an hour.

The house is up and down stairs, and the rooms are filled with delicate furniture and objects, so photography rules and a gentle pace apply. Bags may need to be left at the entrance, and it is wise to check access arrangements if mobility is a concern.

The location could hardly be better. Casa Rocca Piccola is on Republic Street, the main spine of the city, a short walk from St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Grand Master’s Palace, so it slots neatly into a morning of sightseeing. Many visitors take the tour after a guided walk or the cathedral visit and then stop for coffee in one of the nearby squares. It is also a good rainy-day option, or a calm retreat from the midday heat when the streets are busiest.

What makes the visit memorable is the sense of continuity. In a city that has been rebuilt and bombed and restored many times, here is a house that has been carefully maintained and loved, with objects that tell the story of a family rather than an institution. Compared with the grand state rooms of the Palace, it feels intimate, human and sometimes witty. It will particularly appeal to anyone who enjoys social history, interiors, textiles and storytelling, and it is one of the best-loved small museums in the capital.

If you have already seen the main sights, this is the place that adds colour and personality. If you are short on time, choose it over a second large museum: you will leave with a clearer picture of how Maltese nobles lived, and a better understanding of how the city survived the war.