English: A monument of the two architect-engineers, Francesco Laparelli and Gerolamo Cassar, who had designed the city of Valletta in Malta. The architects cannot take all the glory because the building of Valletta would not have been possible without the work of thousands of carpenters, builders, anonymous slaves, not forgetting the donkey and mule - all of whom with great sacrifice and hard work brought to life the designs of Laparelli and Cassar.

Francesco Laparelli (1521-70), an architect and engineer from Cortona, Italy was sent to Malta by Pope Pius V after the Great Siege of 1565 to design the new city of Valletta and he planned the city as it survives today. Laparelli left in 1569 when construction had not yet begun. Work was continued by his Maltese assistant, Girolamo Cassar (c.1520-90), an architect and military engineer, who supervised the building of the city and designed several of its most

prominent structures.