Nuova luce sulla linea bastionata Cottonera. Malta crocevia nel Mediterraneo e fortezza

New Light on the Bastioned Line Cottonera. Malta as Fortress and Crossroads in the Mediterranean Sea In 1669 the Piedmontese engineer Antonio Maurizio Valperga was called to La Valletta by the Grand Master of the Order of Malta to attend to the modernisation of the coastal/island fortresses. His design was, however, considered unfeasibleand too extensive by contemporary military engineers. This short essay intends to clarify the presence of Valperga in Malta and shed light on his project through the criticisms of the famous engineer Gaspare Beretta, by means of unpublished papers conserved at the Biblioteca Trivulziana of Milan.