Inhabited space and urban economies in the district/market «Piazza de’ Viveri» of La Valletta in the second half of the Seventeenth century

In this paper we will reconstruct the morphological, socio-economic and administrative aspects of the district/market called «Piazza de’ Viveri» of La Valletta in Malta, during the second half of the Eighteenth century. The survey will also contextualize the administrative and religious divisions of the urban space of Valletta using cartographic sources. It will also deal with the events that lead to the transformation of the areas reserved for market functions, from open spaces to a commercial and closed square, surrounded by buildings. The paper will focus on the organization and regulation of this district, fully owned by the Order of the Knights of Malta, and it will then concentrate on the socioeconomic aspects that regulated the life of the neighborhood in the second half of Eighteenth century, through the analysis of taxes and notary’s sources. Thanks to these sources we found the presence of a clearly defined group of people composed of Maltese workers and merchants. These people are oftentimes well-off and, in some cases, they had even accumulated large amounts of wealth

Keywords: La Valletta -Urban History- Malta Urban market- Piazza de’ Viveri Order of Malta

Giannantonio Scaglione, Spazio abitato ed economie urbane nel quartiere/mercato della «piazza de’ viveri» de la Valletta nella Seconda metà del Settecento in "STORIA URBANA " 148/2015, pp 5-36, DOI: 10.3280/SU2015-148001