MaltaToday previous editions

MT 5 June 2016

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/688389

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 9 of 55

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 JUNE 2016 10 THOUGH Jean De La Valette will always be remembered as the true originator of our capital city – which turns 450 this year – it may perhaps be worth remembering that the headache of building a city like Valletta from scratch had to be shouldered by Francesco La- parelli (1521-1570), as is noted by William Soler in the most recent edition of Treasures of Malta. Writing in the Easter 2016 edi- tion of the Fondazzjoni Patri- monju Malti publication, Soler outlines the challenges posed by the topography of Mount Sce- berras, and delves into how La- parelli both channeled and went against conventional wisdom as he plunged into the ambitious undertaking of creating Valletta from scratch. Delving into recent scholar- ship, Soler discovers a dilemma at the heart of Laparelli's plans for Valletta: with the architect's apparent wish to emulate the serpentine 'sweetness' of Pisa eventually giving in to the gridi- ron structure Valletta is famous for. The exact reasons for this shift remain a mystery, but they do reveal the tensions at play while our capital city was first be- ing planned out. Soler describes how Laparelli's first challenge upon arriving to Malta in 1565 was leveraging his plans for the city with the to- pography of Sceberras, which at that point was "a bare peninsula, except for the ruins of St Elmo, with a central spinal plateau and sinuous undulating sides", which created "conceptual problems" because it could not easily accom- modate the urban planning style preferred by his contemporary Renaissance context. In fact, instead of the Renais- sance model – "where order ema- nating from old classical plans was reflected in revived urban ideas" – the lie of the land at Sce- berras suggested that the less rigid medieval model may have been the way to go for Laparelli. Laparelli was therefore caught between "two opposed schools of thought" on urban planning. "Should he follow the Renais- sance 'ordered' layouts, accord- ing to the then popular regular plans of theorists like Filarente's (1400-1469) radial concept and Cataneo's (1510-1574) orthogo- nal one, or would it be more con- ducive to city planning to accept the medieval layout of the natu- ral contours in sweet serpentine forms… resulting in easier build- ing due to the generally horizon- tal level which level which results from this idea?" Noting how Laparelli himself was partial to the 'serpentine' plan of Pisa as plan for Valletta, Soler describes how the architect was particularly keen on "a plan which is suggested by the site it- self following the lie of the land, in opposition to forcing a layout with regular straight lines run- ning against the natural lie of the ground, with one main street on the city's spinal axis from the land in front, falling steeply towards Fort St Elmo". Laparelli's idea was to have the other streets be narrow and run along the contours of the penin- sula, in direct opposition to the Renaissance theory of regular, straight streets. Soler describes this as a "peren- nial bone of contention" between the military-inclined Renaissance architecture and its more "flow- ing" medieval counterpart, which favours "an easier build and a pic- turesque sight". Ultimately, we will never know what led to Laparelli's change of heart in opting for the gridiron structure, though Soler – draw- ing on the work of other scholars – suggests that the Order's own military considerations, along with a desire for an urban plan that suggests a clear social hierar- chy, may have both played a part. "This antagonism between the picturesque and the pragmatic is therefore clearly reflected in the dramatic dilemma faced by La- parelli, an engineer and an archi- tect, in deciding which school of thought to pursue, rigidity against artistry," Soler writes. News Identity Malta Agency is seeking to strengthen its Management and due diligence team trough the recruitment of (3) Senior Managers (Analysts) ETC Permit number: 170/2016. Objective of the role: The selected applicants will be responsible for management and due diligence matters related to Units falling under the remit of Identity Malta. Knowledge, skills and experience: Applicants must be in possession of: - Level 6 qualification (Degree) and/or - A minimum of 5 years experience working in a management and due diligence enviroment - Good management skills - Able to work in a team Interested persons are to send a covering letter together with a detailed Curriculum Vitae by not later than 15th June 2016, addressed to the Chief Officer Human Resources, Identity Malta Agency, Mediterranean Conference Centre, Old Hospital Street, Valletta VLT1645. Applications may also be sent by email to recruitment@identitymalta.com. Identity Malta is a government agency established through Legal Notice LN269 of 2013. Career Opportunity Valletta: a city built on a dilemma As our capital city continues to celebrate its 450th anniversary, TEODOR RELJIC digs into both the theoretical and practical dynamics behind Valletta's construction Urban planning: Greek beginnings THOUGH Laparelli assimilated various traditions of urban plan- ning – also taking his contem- porary Renaissance context into account – the foundational influ- ence of the Ancient Greek model should also be noted. Soler claims that prior to An- cient Greece, cities "evolved or- ganically without any ordered or conceptual planning," expanding in accordance to whatever the general natural landscape would allow. But the pioneering observa- tions of Greek architect and urban planner Hippodamus of Miletus (498-408 BC) would help usher in a more regimented approach to how cities are built. It is in fact Hippodamus who argued for "an orderly layout of streets according to a rectangular grid pattern to allow for better planning of public civic amenities which were previously haphazard- ly placed", a vision for the city that has its conceptual root in Greek philosophy – in particular that of Aristotle, who argued that "the basic principle was social order and that cities should be planned by searching for order in society, with plots of equal size, form and orientation, contrary to early un- planned street layouts". treljic@mediatoday.com.mt Joan Blaeu (c.1599-1673), 'Valletta Citta et Fortezza a Nell'Isola di Malta', with a key to 57 place names (Amsterdam, 1663) Francesco Laparelli (1521-1570) Hippodamus' urban planning philosophy is evident in his layout of the port city of Piraeus in Greece, with its distinctive grid pattern Hippodamus (498-408 BC)

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MT 5 June 2016