Three Cities
The Three Cities is the generic name given to the Maltese towns of Il-Birgu or Città Vittoriosa as well as Bormla or Città Cospicua and L-Isla-Senglea in Città Invicta, located on the island of Malta south of Grand Harbour. This name only appeared with the French occupation.
In the 17th century, the cities of Birgu and Senglea were the only fortified cities in this part of the island. In 1638, a new fortification, the Margherita Lines, encompassing Bormla, was built by the engineer Firenzuola. After the fall of Candia and the capture of Crete in 1670, the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Nicolas Cottoner y de Oleza asked Antonio Maurizio Valperga, military engineer of the Duke of Savoy, to build new fortifications encompassing all the hills above the Margherita Lines.
Cottoner, who was heavily criticised by the Catholic princes, provided funding for the work and laid the first stone on 28 August 1670. Behind his 4.5 kilometres of rampart encompassing towns and fields, Cottoner was thus able to shelter, if necessary, facing the fortifications of Valletta, 40,000 people with effects, food and livestock1.
Besides the expression "Three-cities", the name of this urban area in Latin is Civitas Cottonera, named after the great master who built the fortifications.
List of services
-
The BirguList item 1Il-Birgu – or more simply Birgu – and distinguished with the title of Città Vittoriosa (Victorious City) by the Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, after the Great Siege of 1565 in which it played a vital role, is a locality of Malta of about 2,600 inhabitants, located to the east of the Grand Harbour, opposite the capital Valletta on Malta, the location of a local council (Kunsill Lokali) included in the region (Reġjun) Nofsinhar. This locality forms, with Bormla and Isla, one of the Three Cities of the Cottonera Lines.
-
Bormla - Conspicuous CityList item 2Bormla, distinguished by the title of Città Cospicua, is a locality of Malta of about 5,500 inhabitants, located on Malta, east of the Grand Harbour opposite the capital Valletta. This locality is the location of a local council (Kunsilli Lokali) included in the region (Reġjun) Nofsinhar. With the two other towns, Il-Birgu and L-Isla, they constitute the Three Cities. The site has been inhabited since the megalithic period, three megalithic structures have been found with numerous shards, tools and flints. From the time of the beginnings of Christianity or the Byzantine era there are caves dug into the cliff. A troglodyte chapel was rediscovered while clearing rubble from the Second World War.
-
L-Isla - Invicta City Senglea CityList item 3L-Isla – or more simply Isla – and distinguished by the title of Città Invicta and also called Città Senglea, is a locality of Malta of about 2,800 inhabitants, located in Malta south of Grand Harbour opposite the capital Valletta. Isla is the location of a local council (Kunsill Lokali) included in the region (Reġjun) Nofsinhar. It is one of the three Cities with Bormla and Vittoriosa. Its inhabitants are designated under the name of Sengleani. Isla was at the time of the Great Siege of 1565 defended by Fort Saint-Michel of which only the fortification walls remain. This island was once, during the time of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, joined to Bormla by a land bridge, giving it the shape of a peninsula. At that time, Isla was also a hunting ground.
I book my hotel!!
