Investment firm Calamatta Cuschieri has finalised the sale of Palazzo Valdina in Valletta, agains t a consideration of €3.15 million.

In a market update, CC Finance Group plc, the parent company of Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services, said the final contract on the palazzo on M.A. Vassalli Street has been signed.

The building had been acquired by Calamatta Cuschieri to serve as additional office space to house its expanding workforce. The plan changed after its headcount increased beyond what could be comfortably hosted within the palazzo.

The firm had obtained a permit to turn it into an office block, but the intended use by the new owner is as yet unknown. 

The property was built in 1576 and has 20 rooms, eight of which are bedrooms, which surround a courtyard that provides natural light. It is spread across 1,200 square metres with room for this to be increased. It is structurally converted and has sea views of the Marsamxett Harbour.

The building still has a number of its original features, including very high ceilings, wooden beams, stone slab floors, fireplaces, and an untouched spiral staircase or garigor.

Palazzo Valdina got its name from Fra Carlo Valdina, a knight who led “an exceptionally picturesque life”, according to Judge Emeritus Giovanni Bonello, who wrote a history of the property.

He wrote that Fra Valdina was “hardly a lovable character: greedy, violent, an insatiable bully who aimed at power and wealth”.

This led to the Inquisitor at the time to describe him as a “concubinario - a person who lives openly with his mistress – corrupt and corrupting, a man of poor value.”

According to the Planning Authority's case officer, in their notes on application to restore the building and convert it into offices, approved earlier this year, Fra Valdina purchased the palace from Grand Master Antoine de Paule.

However, there does not seem to be any clear indication whether it was originally built for the famed Grand Master or for someone else.