The murder of a baroque mastermind is detailed in a new book on Malta's vast aquatic history. Daniel Tihn dives into the pages of 8,000 Years of Water to find out more. 

Bontadino de Bontadini was hailed as “he who delivered the waters” after masterminding one of Malta’s greatest architectural achievements, the aqueducts.

But, within six months, the Italian architect was dead, murdered by an assassin hired by three knights.

The mystery of the 16th-century murder has been chronicled in a new book, 8,000 Years of Water, which details Malta’s aquatic history from prehistoric times to the modern era of reverse osmosis through various authors.

In one chapter, historian Giovanni Bonello describes how, in its early years, Valletta had grown into a city of splendour and magnificence.

Yet, for all its rich architecture and prestigious position, it still lacked a basic utility: water.

At the time, the sustainability of the city’s water resource was such a prominent issue that the then planning authority (the Officio delle Case) would only allow building permits if they included wells to store each cherished drop of rainwater. Each household also required a cistern and a receptacle for their “foul necessities”.

However, the system was unsustainable as seasons brought little rain and sometimes none at all. A temporary solution was envisioned: water would be carried via boats from Marsa, three miles to the Grand Harbour.

Not only was this inefficient but also problematic. If there was to be another siege, enemy forces could easily starve the city of its water supply as it would be too dangerous to deliver it.

In 1596, just 31 years after the city’s inception, it was decided that Valletta’s aquatic future lay in channelling the water across land and the project was set in motion – until it was stopped. While innovative, the proposal was simply not financially feasible for the ruling Order of St John.

“But Valletta’s water emergency kept knocking,” Bonello writes.

“Two years of unrelenting drought almost forced the inhabitants to abandon the capital completely,” with the city’s survival resting solely on the shoulders of Marsa’s water deliveries.

Preliminary plans for a water traversal system began in 1610 but the finances remained an issue until Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt took it upon himself to solve the drought crisis through his personal funds.

Money no longer a concern, there were still technical problems that had to be worked out as water had to “head down valleys and deep depressions and rise up steep and difficult hills”.

The first solution was to transport the water underground which had the by-product bonus of keeping the water cool.

But when the project was unable to be completed as water leaked profusely through the “extraordinarily damp and soft” limestone, the project’s leader, Padre Natale Tomasucci, abruptly left the country in 1612.

With half the underground structure built, Wignacourt had to look for alternatives for the financial failure as he “had fallen in love with the project”.

The search for an expert architect began

Wignacourt began scouting Italian cities for an expert architect and engineer to bring his vision home. Enter Bontadino de Bontadini from Bologna.

Shortly after his arrival, Bontadini quickly began the works, drawing local favour along the way. “Knights regularly flocked on site to watch with great enjoyment the grossa guerra [great war] engaged by Bontadini,” Bonello explains.

In an epic poem written by Sicilian poet Filippo Valenti – a piece of literature that contains much historic information on the aqueducts – Bontadini’s mind is compared to the mythic Daedalus and the famed Archimedes.

One of Bontadini’s great breakthroughs was “his employment of a suitable waterproof cement to weld the conduits together”, according to Bonello.

“All acknowledged in it the single factor that contributed most to the success of the work”.

The material not only waterproofed the Maltese limestone, which was prone to cracking and leaks, but also strengthened the stone as it was now able to resist the pressure of the running water.

The original fund for the aqueduct was around 20,000 scudi, which was Malta’s currency at the time. It cost Wignacourt 155,000 scudi when the aqueduct was eventually completed and officially inaugurated on April 12, 1615.

One document of the time paints the picture that Wignacourt “released the inhabitants from the slavery and precariousness of preserving the rain in cisterns from their roofs  and distributed water all over Valletta, like the veins in a human body”.

According to Valenti, the flow of water was so abundant that the grand master diverted some to a nearby mill and even to local gardens.

However, the achievement was shortlived for Bontadini. Everything was.

Italian architect murdered

On an unspecified day before October 1615, the Italian architect was murdered by assassin Ferrante Marangio who was hired by three knights: Fra Francesco Bentivoglio, who was also from Bologna, Fra Virgilio Ferretti from Ancona and Fra Gio Batta Calderari from Vicenza.

The three men were sentenced to two years’ exile from Malta, after which they were to be expelled from the Order. 

Bontadini’s killers were forgiven quickly (“the usual amnesty, to underline that dead men are expendable and warrior-knights are not,” Bonello comments), with one of the three promoted to captain only 10 years after the crime.

As many documents remain uncovered, Bonello is still searching for the reasons behind the beloved architect’s assassination – not even Valenti’s poem references the murder despite being published months after the incident.

“Unless the actual record of the trial turns up, or at least the detailed Relazione by the commissioner (both of which I consider quite unlikely), this poignant drama could well remain veiled in obscurity.”

Death motives, circumstances remain unknown

The background, motives and circumstances of the death remain unknown. Mysteriously, very little is known about Bontadini before his arrival in Malta, even his name eluding the records as Bontadino “almost certainly represents a nickname”.

“Bontadini deserved better than that. His genius inspired and accomplished one of the most gigantic works of public utility in Malta,” Bonello writes.

The aqueducts were not Bontadini’s only cultural contribution to the island, the Bolognese engineer leaving his architectural mark with several fountains, of which only two remain.

They are the turret-designed fountain near Sarria church, in Floriana and the Omnibus Idem fountain at the base of St James Cavalier, its original location having been Valletta before it was moved in 1870.

Another one of the Bolognese architect’s lost treasures is his triumphal three-door arch that spanned the road at Santa Venera and was Malta’s first piece of baroque architecture.

The archway was renovated twice, once in 1739 and again in 1780 but met an untimely fate when two World War II vehicles crashed into the structure, reducing it to rubble.

8000 Years of Water, published by the Water Services Corporation, is edited by Stephen Zerafa, with photography and design by Daniel Cilia.

It includes contributions by 14 authors. Sales from the book go to the Community Chest Fund, with approximately €14,000 already donated.

How Malta’s water system developed

• In the beginning: Malta’s carbonate limestone rocks create a permeable and porous formation, which subsequently absorbs rainwater that falls on the surface and diverts it underground.

• Prehistoric Malta: This water was accessible to prehistoric inhabitants via springs that formed above the Blue Clay layer (below the island’s top Upper Coralline Limestone layer but above the deeper Globigerina Limestone). Many settlements were founded in these areas, even when separated by a millennium.

• Roman occupation: When the Romans landed in Malta, they advanced water management, with the presence of latrines implying a continuous supply of water.

• The Knights of St John: While there were advancements after the Romans’ departure, the first major change was the aqueduct system that was opened in 1615, fresh water now accessible in the Valletta area.

• 20th century: In the 20th century, steel technology began to be used to extract water from wells which quickly turned into wind-driven water pumps and eventually diesel- and electricity-driven pumps.

• 1980s: The first Reverse Osmosis plant opened in Għar Lapsi in February 1983 after the country was hit with nationwide shortages.

• Today: In 2021, a seawater Reverse Osmosis plant was built in Ħondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo, which ensured that the small island could sustain its own local water needs.

Correction January 7, 2022: A previous version misstated the century when the murder occurred as the 16th.