Balzan - Palace/Castle/Manor

BALZAN This Villa has an interesting history dating back to the time when the area was an agricultural area with fields and farmer-sown crops. Legend has it that it got its name from the connection it has to the nearby San Antonio It was in the early seventeenth century when Antione de Paule, a knight of the order of St. John, who in 1623 became Grand Master of Malta, built the Palace of San Antonio. This man grew so fond of San Anton and his gardens which he built prior to becoming grandmaster, that on being elected to the magistracy, de Paule disapproved of living seven miles and well over an hour’s carriage journey from Valletta at Verdala-Buskett and there enlarged his country house to become the Palace of San Antonio (Blouet, 1981) which we know today.
According to Vella (post-1983b), this palace was part of de Paul’s social and economic planning. It was originally built as a country residence for him and for his close friends, amongst who was a certain Caterina Valente. As the legend goes it was this woman who gave the name to this Villa, for it is held that she occupied the original country villa, which soon. Indeed, up to a century ago, this Villa stood practically alone surrounded by fields and the gardens of San Antonio. An underground passageway, which is now blocked, leads to San Anton Gardens and it is held that he served as an emergency exit for the grandmaster if he needed to leave the palace in haste or undercover.
It may, therefore, be seen that it may have played a role in the protection of the Grandmaster from sudden attack as well as would have allowed him to follow such pursuits as allowed a common man but not a knight. The villa’s role as an escape route from the rigors and formality of grandmasters must have ended when the austere and disciplined Jean-Paul de Lascaris Castellar became grandmaster on 12th June 1636, for Lascaris turned his eyes back on Buskett-Verdala where Abela (1647) informed us that this grandmaster much embellished the Boschetto gardens. From that time on it was passed on between different owners until at the beginning of the twentieth century it was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style of architecture. This has remained the style of the Villa till the present time; although it is presumed that the garden layout that is still extant today predates this rebuilding.
It is interesting to note that during the twentieth century it remained practically intact with only some minor modifications being made on the northeastern side, which included the extension of the main hall to accommodate weddings and similar functions. It is also recorded that the first wedding reception at the Villa took place in 1944 when a certain wealthy couple was allowed to use it for their very own special occasion. This was the very first of many such occasions and hopefully many it was also to see itself being hemmed in by building development and today it stands as a survivor of those villas, which once adorned most of Balzan and which had extensive gardens attached to them. Interestingly the villa has a very old Norfolk Island Pine as a centerpiece in the garden, which probably dates to the rebuilding of the present villa at the turn of the 20th century.
The garden is interesting in itself for it still has three trellis supporting columns which once provided the base for the original wooden trellis. The cumbered central flagstone paving of the garden paths is also a feature of garden design that reminiscences the days when people could afford the luxury of walking in the garden and just enjoy life in the coolness of the late afternoons.