Over 1400 people have signed a petition to save a historic garden from being turned into a 10-storey hotel on the Pietà seafront.

Days before the fate of Giardino Zamittelo is decided, activists have sent the petition to the Planning Authority asking for the application to be refused and the property to be instead given protected status. 

It was also sent to Prime Minister Robert Abela and President George Vella, appealing for their intervention to save the 400-year-old garden. 

Later during the day, National Heritage Minister José Herrera joined the plea, tweeting that the proposed development would mean the destruction of a magnificent, iconic and historic garden, inevitably crippling Villa Frere.

"I join the plea to have this proposed development refused," he said.

The Zamittello garden, while significant as an example of a baroque garden, also shares a boundary with Villa Frere, a Heritage Malta owned site built by English diplomat John Hookham Frere in the 1800s. 

The NGO, Friends of Villa Frere argue that the proposed development would ruin the context of Villa Frere and destroy one of the last remaining green lungs in the area. 

Slide the scroller to the right to see how the Pietà skyline might change. Render provided by objectors.

The project had been recommended for refusal by the PA’s case officer, citing the height limitation policy and the negative impact on the surrounding historic environment. 

Heritage Malta has also registered as an objector to the development, citing the historic importance of the site and the need to protect the context of Villa Frere. 

A spokeswoman for Heritage Malta said that the agency was formally requesting the application be refused as the proposed construction would “inevitably lead to the crippling of Villa Frere, which will be grossly overpowered by the new building height and have all vistas entirely blocked.

“The context is as important as the gardens themselves. It was precisely the reason why the gardens were built there in the first place,” the spokeswoman said.

“Frere moved to the seafront so that his wife could recover to better health, and the gardens were built on the steep hill so that Frere had a direct visual contact with the Protestant cemetery on Msida Bastion, where his wife was buried. It would be like surrounding Mnajdra (megalithic temples) with apartments but pleading innocence since Mnajdra itself has not been touched.”

Heritage Malta also confirmed that the scheduling of Villa Frere as a Grade 1 heritage monument was being processed by the PA. If approved, this would include an adequate buffer zone to protect its context.

Slide the scroller to the right to see how the Pietà skyline might change. Render provided by objectors.

What is Giardino Zamitello?

Giardino Zamittello is a highly formal garden consisting of a series of walled enclosures originating in the mid-late 18th century, with further embellishment during the very early 1800s in the high baroque, neo-classical idiom. 

It includes a tower that was probably used by Maltese insurgents during the French blockade.

Apart from its architectural importance, Villa Frere is of great significance to the founding of the Maltese language, as Mikiel Anton Vassalli was a frequent guest. 

Vassalli enjoyed Captain Frere’s patronage and the two had long discussions on how to establish Maltese as a written and taught language.

Other visitors to Villa Frere included royalty: Britain’s Queen Adelaide in the 1800s, Queen Mary in 1912 and Queen Marie of Romania in 1922.