Villa Madama

I refer to your news report “Villa Madama in €885,161 court auction”, in which you state that “the building dates back to Grandmaster Antoine de Paule (1623-1636), the Hospitaller knight who founded Paola back in 1626. Villa Madama was originally built as a country residence for de Paule and his friends, amongst whom were Caterine Valente – the lady who gave the villa its name.”
May I correct you on this point: the existing building, which is of art nouveau style, was built by F. N. Buttigieg on his own designs. What was built by Grandmaster Antoine de Paule were a few rooms and a garden. I do not believe any of these rooms still exist today on this land... unless it forms part of what is today known as The Melita next door, which was also a property found in the estate of the Buttigieg Desira family, so much so both properties are connected by a bridge. I expect that once these two properties were one and Melita could be the building built by Grandmaster Antoine de Paule while Villa Madama could have formed part of the garden which Buttigieg or Desira split into two properties. After Desira’s death F.N. Buttigieg married Erminia who was Desira’s widow and he built Villa Madama as a family residence, F.N. Buttigieg was well known for his art nouveau architectural style locally and his works are still researched by the Malta University although he was not an architect by profession.

Franco Buttigieg
Sliema

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