Fort Ricasoli: a historic monument forgotten

The Fort, which is used from time to time for filming purposes, such as Troy, and the recent $70 million dollar production Agora, dates back to the 18th century and is named after Fra Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli, the knight who financed a large part of the works. It is situated in Kalkara, next to Fort Rinella and looks onto the Grand Harbour and the one of Marsamxett.

Nathaniel Cutajar, from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, commented on sister newspaper Illum that the Fort “is a historic monument. It’s extremely important because it forms part of the Harbour fortifications of the 18th century. It was built after St Angelo and St Elmo, they existed already during the Great Siege. Ricasoli was built 200 years after. Each fort has a character of its own. Fort Ricasoli was designed to block the Port together with St Elmo.”

The Fort now risks losing substantial parts of its own buildings especially those situated at the edge of cliffs. In fact parts of it have already fallen into the sea.