Valletta is unique among European capitals: a city built from scratch in just 15 years as a unified Baroque fortress, where every street was designed with cannon fire in mind and every stone was laid with purpose. This valletta walking tour companion post pairs with “Valletta, Malta Walking Tour — 4K60fps with Captions by Prowalk Tours” by the renowned walking tour channel Prowalk Tours, filmed in May 2024 starting from the Triton Fountain at the city gate. The captioned walk takes viewers through the compact grid of Valletta’s streets — from the Parliament building inside the fortress ditch to the panoramic Grand Harbour views from the Upper Barrakka Gardens.
About This Walking Tour
Prowalk Tours is one of the most established walking tour channels on YouTube, known for high-quality 4K footage with on-screen captions identifying every landmark. This Valletta walk, filmed on 29 May 2024, begins at the Triton Fountain outside the City Gate — a 1959 sculpture of three giants, recently restored — and enters the city through Renzo Piano’s 2015 Parliament Building, which was controversially but cleverly inserted into the historic fortress ditch that once formed the city’s main defensive moat.
The walk proceeds along Republic Street, Valletta’s main axis, passing St John’s Co-Cathedral — where Caravaggio’s largest painting is housed — and the Grand Master’s Palace, the seat of government since the Knights Hospitaller built it in the 1570s. The route leads to the Upper Barrakka Gardens on the southern bastion, where the Saluting Battery fires its cannon daily and the view over the Grand Harbour — one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean — takes in the Three Cities on the opposite shore. The 4K 60fps footage captures both the honey-coloured limestone of the street facades and the extraordinary blue of the harbour beyond.
Highlights of Valletta
St John’s Co-Cathedral is Valletta’s greatest artistic treasure. Built between 1572 and 1577 as the conventual church of the Knights of St John, its austere exterior conceals an interior of overwhelming Baroque richness — every inch of the nave walls carved with memorials to the Knights, the floor paved with 400 polychrome marble tombstones, the nave ceiling painted with scenes from the life of John the Baptist by Mattia Preti. The cathedral holds two works by Caravaggio, painted during his stay in Malta in 1607–1608: The Beheading of St John the Baptist — the only work Caravaggio signed, and the largest canvas he ever painted — and St Jerome Writing.
The Grand Master’s Palace on Palace Square has served as the seat of power in Malta continuously since the 1570s — first the Knights, then the French under Napoleon, then the British, and now the President of Malta. Its Armoury contains one of the finest collections of European arms and armour in the world, including approximately 5,000 complete suits of armour.
The Upper Barrakka Gardens offer the most celebrated view in Malta: the Grand Harbour spread below, with the Cottonera Lines and Three Cities — Vittoriosa, Senglea, and Cospicua — across the water. The Saluting Battery below the gardens fires a cannon at noon daily, a tradition dating to the Knights’ era.
Strait Street — known as Strada Stretta — was for centuries the centre of Valletta’s entertainment district, catering to sailors and soldiers from the British garrison. After decades of decline it has been revived as a bar and restaurant street, retaining its narrow, atmospheric character.
A Brief History of Valletta
Valletta was built following the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, when the Knights Hospitaller withstood a four-month Ottoman assault with enormous casualties on both sides. The victory shocked Europe and the Knights, determined never to be so vulnerable again, commissioned a new fortified city on the barren peninsula of Mount Sciberras that had been the site of the siege’s most bitter fighting.
The city was named after Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette, who led the defence of Malta. Construction began in 1566 under the Italian military engineer Francesco Laparelli, a pupil of Michelangelo, and proceeded at extraordinary speed — Valletta was substantially complete within 15 years. It was designed as a planned grid city, entirely unlike the medieval organic growth of most European towns, with wide streets that channelled sea breezes and provided clear cannon-fire lines.
The Knights held Malta until 1798, when Napoleon took the island almost without a fight. The British expelled the French and governed Malta from 1800 until independence in 1964. During World War II the Grand Harbour and the area around Valletta was the most heavily bombed location per square mile anywhere in the world. Malta as a whole was awarded the George Cross by King George VI in 1942 in recognition of its civilian population’s resistance. Valletta was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 and was European Capital of Culture in 2018.
Practical Tips
Malta uses the euro. The official languages are Maltese and English; English is spoken universally and is the language of government, business, and tourism. Valletta covers just 0.8 square kilometres — the entire city is walkable in under an hour, though the hills mean some streets are steep. Malta’s bus network radiates from the terminal just outside Valletta’s City Gate. A ferry service connects Valletta to the Three Cities across the harbour — a five-minute crossing that provides a remarkable view of the fortifications. Malta’s warmest months are July and August, which can be very hot; March through May and October through November offer the most comfortable walking temperatures. The Carnival in February and the village festas in summer are worth timing a visit around.
Watch & Explore More
Prowalk Tours’ captioned 4K 60fps walk is one of the best ways to preview every landmark in Valletta before visiting — watch it above and then plan your route. For more Mediterranean and European walking tours, visit @walkingtoursvideoscom. You might also enjoy our walks through Rome from the Colosseum to Trastevere and Athens from the Acropolis to Plaka.