Other reviewers have spoken about the highlights of Valletta: the magnificent interior of St John’s Co-Cathedral (despite its plain exterior), the hilly grid layout with many Baroque buildings, and the spectacular view of the Grand Harbour from Upper Barrakka Gardens. One aspect that has not been mentioned, probably because it only opened in 2021, is the tour of underground Valletta. For 15€, one can join a tour of the tunnels that lie beneath the city. The tour begins from MUŻA, the art museum located in the Baroque building that was the Auberge d’Italie. There are several such auberges throughout Valletta, each of which hosted knights of the Order of St John from the various countries. The Auberge de Castille is the grandest of these, housing Maltese government offices, whilst the Auberge de Provence is now host to the National Archaeology Museum, well worth visiting as it includes artefacts from Malta’s two other WHS, the megalithic temples and the Hypogeum. Returning to the underground tour, after a short wait in MUŻA’s courtyard, each of our group of ten or so was given a hardhat fitted with flashlight and then led out through the streets to the entrance to the underground, hidden amidst the tables of an unassuming restaurant.

The tunnels here were built at the same time as the city above in the 16th Century to help survive any future sieges after their successful defence against the Ottomans in 1565. In World War II, the city and its strategic harbour came under heavy bombardment from Germany and Italy and the local population expanded the original tunnels, widening them and adding additional chambers in which to live during air raids. Many of these chambers are decorated with roof tiles taken from the destroyed buildings above (see picture attached). There are also religious carvings as well as war-themed graffiti, including depictions of bombers and the Führer himself. The tour takes you through several of these tunnels as well as an old empty water cistern before ending in a much larger empty reservoir with many dangling tree roots. Such chambers would have held the water for Valletta’s many fountains, most of which sadly no longer seem to exist. The tour exits outside the cathedral’s main entrance but not before a ten-minute video that repeats much of what the tour guide has already said over muffled speakers. This was the low point of what was otherwise an interesting experience, particularly as there is no where to sit and, by the end, the warm humidity of the tunnels becomes an annoyance. The tour’s website states that Valletta “cannot be fully appreciated without experiencing what lies beneath it”, which is clearly false but it does offer a new perspective on a city that has so much history.