Casa Rocca Piccola was constructed in the 16th century in Valletta, as one of the first noble houses in the city. Today, the ninth Marquis de Piro and his wife Frances call it home, and were the first members of the Maltese aristocracy to open their house to the public. As a result, its 12 palatial rooms are open to the public six days a week, giving visitors the chance to encounter some of the finest and oldest furniture, silver items and paintings acquired and preserved here over the last 400 years. What's more, a network of underground passages and tunnels cut out of the rock beneath Casa Rocca Piccola are also available for viewing. You can go down the 100 stone steps and through the narrow tunnels to arrive at a huge well that was used during WWII to shelter over 100 people from enemy bombs - fascinating!

This noble house was originally built for Don Pietro La Rocca, who was an Admiral for the Order of the Knights of Saint John. Originally, it was named la casa con giardino, translating to “house with garden”, which was interesting, since houses were not permitted to have gardens at that time. Now, the orange tree dotted garden is beautifully maintained, welcoming its guests by Kuku – the resident Macaw parrot.

The Marquis Nicholas de Piro is animated and full of anecdote. The first thing he says upon meeting is that "there isn't another noble house in Valletta whereby visitors can catch a glimpse of a living household. It feels very lived in, but it also holds a lot of bric-a-brac."

This is an understatement. Room after room offers inestimable objects and paintings, each one positively steeped in history. One room offers 10 generations of Maltese faces in paintings, while another holds a bed in which Monsignor Giuseppe de Piro, founder of the Missionary Society of St Paul, was born, and is said to be good luck to touch. The Marquis explains how a lot of can be told of a sitter in a painting by reading the symbolism, and points out a particular portrait of the Balì von Baldenstein by Antoine Favray, who warned Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch that Napoleon was planning to take Malta, and that his "honour was at stake".

The Marquis recently bought rooms connected to the home which were owned by his cousins, and has now extended the house to accommodate even more of the family's collections, making the home even more stately.

Apart from hosting private tours, the Marquis is busy with research projects involving the de Piro Archives and writing books on Maltese history. He is a well-known lover of art and micro-history, and has written several books peppered with anecdote, including The Temple of The Knights of Malta, The Sovereign Palaces of Malta and The Quality of Malta. His International Dictionary of Artists Who Painted Malta is probably his most popular work, and has appeared in two editions so far.

One of Nicholas' sons, Clement de Piro has taken over the promotion of Casa Rocca Piccola, and is busy with new ideas and improvements to the visitor experience. He says, "at first it started out as a business, but it's become more than that. It's about preserving our identity."

Clement goes on to speak of his latest project: digitising the family's archives as part of the initiative between the Malta Study Centre at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, in partnership with the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju. The majority of archives concern business letters beginning from the first Marquis de Piro. Since he had extensive business dealings with people all over Europe including the papal family in Rome, the letters are a fascinating insight of how business was carried out, but also bring to light links to connect the dots of information together.

"A family's history is sort of like Chinese whispers. You get some of the truth, but perhaps not exactly as things really happened. Going through the archives helps us piece together a lot of things, as well as put a lot of the objects this house holds into place. For instance, there was a receipt found belonging to one of our ancestors paying for the moving of a special piano on behalf of the name Scarlatti (who was a very famous Italian composer). It was likely to be one of his children due to the date of the receipt, but it allows us to learn that one of Scarlatti's children was in Malta at some point. We learn little morsels like this all the time, allowing us to create and hone a web of information about the family, but also about Malta and Europe in general."

The de Piro family lived in Gloucestershire for 14 years before returning to Malta in 1990 to open Casa Rocca Piccola to the public. Clement explains, "at the time, Valletta was frowned upon as a residential area. Now, it has blossomed back into the sought-after cultural centre it was before WWII. Post-war, many of the affluent families left Valletta to settle in Sliema."

Apart from the palatial home filled with glorious historical objects and the WWII shelters underneath, there is also a souvenir shop from where hand-blown glass, Caltigirone pottery, books and other souvenirs are available. Meanwhile, the old kitchens of the palace are now used as a restaurant serving a range of Italian dishes, and there is also a gallery which holds regular exhibitions of contemporary art.

Don't miss

Apart from writing historical books, helping with research, and hosting tours of his private home, Marquis de Piro is also a poet. In aid of saving Valletta’s protestant church’s steeple, the Marquis is hosting an evening of poetry performance at the Salesian Theatre on 10th April from 7-9pm. Entitled Notions, Nostalgia and Nonsense (after his published book of poetry), the evening will also include illustrious heart surgeon Alex Manche' on the piano. More information here.