Valletta palazzo could get an extra floor and a new bar

A historic palazzo in Valletta, currently used as offices for shipping agents, may get a new storey to house three apartments and a bar at ground floor level if permission is granted by the Planning Authority.

Palazzo Marina, located on the corner of St Christopher Street and St Fredrick Street, is owned by shipping agents Bianchi & Co. Ltd. At the centre of the palazzo lies a courtyard with a fountain in the middle.

The shipping agents, with the help of architect Chris Briffa, filed plans in March (PA/04868/25) to add an additional floor to the palazzo and introduce three serviced apartments at the new floor.

The company also wants to carry out partial demolition works to refurbish offices in the basement, ground floor and first floor.

Drawings of the current building and proposed plans. Photo: Planning Authority

Plans show that one of the ground floor offices would be converted into a café or bar.

Over the past few years, the applicant has received numerous permits to carry out restoration and maintenance works. Sometimes these works were carried out due to unsafe structures.

Resident activist group Residenti Beltin has formally objected to the proposed development.

“Such works are likely to compromise its authenticity, aesthetic coherence and the unique architectural characteristics that define it,” the activist group said.

The group is mainly objecting to the proposed demolition works and construction of an additional floor. It said that the application should, at least, be subject to a rigorous heritage impact assessment and a traffic impact study.

Such works are likely to compromise its authenticity, aesthetic coherence and the unique architectural characteristics that define it

The addition of apartments and a bar is likely to increase vehicle and pedestrian traffic on an already “heavily congested” street, as well as “disrupt the residential amenity and character of the surrounding neighbourhood,” it added.

It further warned that plans to increase the number of floors risk overdeveloping the palazzo, and might contribute to its degradation.

“The proposed interventions would almost certainly lead to significant internal reconfiguration, which may include the loss of historic staircases, room proportions, stonework or finishes,” it said.

The courtyard at the centre of the palazzo.

In their objection, Residenti Beltin explained that the building, originally two houses, was acquired in 1608 by Fra Giovanni di Ventimiglia, Balì of Manosca.

“It subsequently served as the residence of Grand Master Carafa and later Bishop Publius Sant, having passed through the Priory of Roccella and into the Sant family by 1778,” it said.

It added that the Bianchi family acquired it in the 1980s, and it was later extended to the adjacent townhouse on St Fredrick Street in the 1990s.