Fortified architecture in the name of the octagonal cross. Echo and criticism of the Cottonera bastioned line in Malta

This paper sheds new light on the fortified Cottonera line in Malta, a masterpiece of the Piedmontese military engineer Antonio Maurizio Valperga. In 1669, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta required Valperga’s expertise in Valletta to modernise the coastal fortresses of the island. However, Valperga’s project was considered not feasible and too extensive by contemporary military engineers, such as Gaspare Beretta. This contribution retraces the reasons for this criticism by analysing some drawings and Beretta’s report sent to Malta. Despite the criticism, Valperga’s work was highly influential. The Cottonera project was included in Carlos de Grunenbergh’s Teatro Geografico (1686), Vincenzo Coronelli’s engraving Città e Fortezza di Malta (c.1692) as well as in Nicolas de Fer’s print Plan des Vieilles et Nouvelles Fortif[ication]s de Malthe (1694) and many other iconographic sources. This paper is part of a broader investigation about Maltese civil and military architecture of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem carried out by the author over several years.