Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/475084
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2015 16 News THOUGH it was a bright sum- mer day of the kind Malta has been missing of late, a group of around 50 decided to take the plunge into Val- letta's underground network of tun- nels – a combined endeavour of the Knights of Malta and the British dur- ing WWII – for a fully-booked tour organised by Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA). With a spirited commentary by Nick Ripard of Foundinmalta Guided Tours – with interjections from FAA's Astrid Vella – the tour spanned from the undercroft of the Auberge d'Italie in Merchants Street, with visitors then emerging from the 16th century cellars of Castille for an additional 'over-ground' commentary on select spots of Merchants Street, ending with a visit to Casa Rocca Piccola's wartime shelter in Republic Street. The rock-hewn tunnel of the Au- berge de Castille links to the Auberge d'Italie, where the knights' passages and cellars were incorporated into Valletta's World War II network of tunnels, built by the British in 1941. Sealed for almost six decades since the 1950s, the tunnels' thick rock walls are etched with dates, masons' marks and graffiti symbols. Standing in crammed single file, droplets of water descended from the low ceil- ing, hewn into tiny stalactites over the years. The guide recounted how a 2,000- strong force of miners was employed to burrow the tunnels. However, they weren't happy with the wage that was offered to them. "So the British authorities gave them a choice," Rip- ard said, "they could either excavate the tunnels at the given price, or they could be sent to the front-lines dur- Damp tunnels and TEODOR RELJIC takes the plunge into Valletta's underbelly, as a guided tour explores what lies beneath our capital city PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD