Valletta is an administrative unit and the capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just 0.61 square kilometres (0.24 sq mi), it is the European Union's smallest capital city.
Floriana, also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana is the birthplace of many famous Maltese, amongst which the composer of the national anthem, 'L-Innu Malti', Robert Samut; former Bishop of Malta Dun Mauro Caruana, the poets Oliver Friggieri and Maria Grech Ganado, the writer and politician Herbert Ganado and Swedish Idol winner Kevin Borg.
The music of Malta ranges across a spectrum of genres such as traditional folk music, metal and various forms of electronica.
Giorgio Borg Olivier, was a Maltese statesman and leading politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Malta as the Leader of the Nationalist Party. He was also Leader of the Opposition between 1955–58, and again between 1971–77.
Qormi, also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324, making it Malta's fifth-largest city.
L-Għanja tal-Poplu is a popular Maltese song competition first organized by Youth Travel Circle (YTC) on 5 May 1973 at the St. Albert College in Valletta. The founder of YTC is Rev. Maurice Mifsud. Initially the contest had to register as YTC members. From 1987 onward, the contest took a national dimension. The competing songs are sung primarily in Maltese and are written either by the singers themselves or other songwriters. In the 1990s the contest started being transmitted on local television stations. This contest is today organised by the voluntary organisation L-Għanja tal-Poplu and is slso supported by Arts Council Malta.
Maltese architecture has its origins in prehistory, and some of the oldest free-standing structures on Earth – a series of megalithic temples – can be found on Malta. The islands were colonized by the Phoenicians and later the Romans, who established the cities of Melite and Gaulos. Although these were substantial settlements and are known to have had numerous temples, churches and palaces, few remains have survived apart from some architectural fragments.
The Castellania, also known as the Castellania Palace, is a former courthouse and prison in Valletta, Malta that currently houses the country's health ministry. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1757 and 1760, on the site of an earlier courthouse which had been built in 1572.
Walter Micallef is a leading Maltese singer songwriter, born in the central Maltese town of Birkirkara. He has composed well over a hundred songs in Maltese.
Pawlu Camilleri is one of Malta's leading harmonica musicians. Born in Valletta, Pawlu grew up in the neighbourhood of Id-Due Balli, a working class area of the Maltese capital city.
Carmelo Borg Pisani was a Maltese artist and Italian Fascist spy, condemned to death for treason in 1942.
The żaqq is the most common form of Maltese bagpipes. The instrument was once associated with Maltese folk-festivals.
Maltese folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Malta over the centuries, and expresses the cultural identity of the Maltese people. Maltese folklore, traditions and legends still live in the minds of the older-generations, and these are slowly being studied and categorized, like any other European tradition. A number of national and international folklore festivals are undertaken on an annual basis, some of which are under the patronage of the National Folklore Commission and the Ministry for Culture and the Arts. Notably, every December the Malta International Folk Festival is staged in Valletta, with delegates from countries around the World.
Although Malta is a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with a small population, it is nonetheless rich in its history and its culture. When in the 1950s, in nearby Italy the San Remo Festival, and later in Switzerland, the Eurovision Song Contest came into existence, Malta soon followed suit by organizing its own National Song Festival.
Canon Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, often called de Soldanis, was a Maltese linguist, historian and cleric from the island of Gozo. He wrote the first lexicon and systematic grammar of the Maltese language, and he was the first librarian of the Bibliotheca Publica, the precursor of the National Library of Malta.
The Slaves' Prison officially known as the Grand Prison and colloquially as the bagnio, was a prison in Valletta, Malta. It was established in the late 16th century, and remained in use as a prison throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. It was subsequently used as a naval hospital, a school and an examination hall. It was bombed in World War II, and the ruins were demolished to make way for a block of flats.
Francesco "Franco" Zerafa was a Maltese architect and donato to the Religion. In 1714, he succeeded Giovanni Barbara as Capomastro delle Opere della Religione, a post which he held until his death.
The University of Malta Students' Futsal Team, known as the University Futsal Team for short, is a futsal team that competes in the Maltese Futsal League. The team previously bore the name of its parent club, Mdina Knights F.C. In 2018, the team won its first silverware in the Maltese Futsal Knockout Cup.
The Armed Forces of Malta Band is a Maltese platoon-sized musical group representing the units of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM). The AFM Band is a regular participant in official events and ceremonies, mostly performing on major holidays such as Republic Day in December. The band's area of responsibility includes Malta and Gozo. The personnel of the AFM Band make up the only specialised marching band on the island. The band currently has 43 musicians in its ranks, who, besides their duties as bandsmen, also perform their military duties as medics and security officers.
