Three Cities

The beginning to construction began on 28 August 1670 with great solemnity as follows: 'On that day a general procession of all the regular orders walked from the Parish Church of Burmula, led by the prior of the convent church, who held the famous relic of St. John, glorious protector of the Holy Religion followed by the Grand Master, all the knights and a lot of citizens walked towards the hill, where the bastion of S. Niccolo was planned; here and there, with the usual ceremonies, and blessings, the Grand Master Fra Nicola Cotoner cast various coins bearing his and the city’s mark within the foundations of the wall, as also did the Knights of the Grand Cross while they invoked the Divine help.

A detail from the cartouche by Albert Clouet of the Civitas Cotonera, shows a central castle or fort; the Fort Santa Margerita surrounded by the present day Cottonera lines with new buildings, palaces and gardens with the Dockyard Creek and most importantly, it shows Bormla forming an essential part of Civitas Cotonera.

Albert Clouet's cartouche excludes the peninsulas of the two neighbouring cities, so it is quite evident that neither Vittoriosa nor Senglea were ever intended to form part of Civitas Cotonera.

With the death of Grand Master Cotoner critics of the design discontinued work claiming that it would not withstand a siege.

The blockade by the British and the Maltese uprising against the French who had to defend their position by locking themselves within the Cottonera lines for well over a year should be sufficient proof that these claims are spurious.

With the discontinuation of work on the Civitas Cotonera, the Fort St. Margarita continued with different redesigns by various Grand Masters to its present appearance as a line of bastions.

In the book Della lingua punica presentemente usata da maltesi &c, Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis refers to the t'Ghuxa area in Bormla and the ancient name of Burmula itself as proof that these have Punic origins.

The area subsequently had higher levels of illiteracy, unemployment and people on welfare when compared to the rest of Malta.