PricewaterhouseCoopers
Street Address:
167 Merchants Street
Valletta VLT1174
Malta |
Mailing Address:
PO Box 61
Valletta VLT1000
Malta |
 |
Telephone: [356]
21 247000
Fax: [356] 21 244768
Email: info@mt.pwc.com
Country: Malta |
Our offices at 167 Merchants Street Valletta
Valletta
Valletta is the capital city of Malta. It was built immediately after the Great Siege of 1565 by the Knights of St John who, at the time, had sovereignty over the Maltese islands. It is a walled city built on a promontory between two harbours with only one landward approach. "The city, its streets, its churches and palaces reflect the proud spirit, the chivalry and the achievements of the Knights who were basking in the glory of the Siege." (M. Ellul, Legacy in Stone, Miranda Publications Malta 1991).
The person responsible for the design concept for Valletta was the architect Francesco Laparelli da Cortona, a man of wide experience in the design and building of fortifications who had also assisted Michaelangelo in the construction of the dome of St. Peter's in Rome. His project for Valletta comprised a gridiron plan with nine street running parallel to, and twelve across, the ridge of the promontory, surrounded by a periphery road just inside the walls. After Laparelli's departure from Malta in 1570, responsibility for the building of the new city was assigned to the Maltese architect, Girolamo Cassar. Cassar was "a real artist, the interpreter of the new spirit of the Order of St John in stone, and he gave homogeneity without monotony to a small closely-built city, where a less restrained taste might have left monstrosities" (E. Schemerhorn, Malta of the Knights, London 1921).
Valletta, once described by Disraeli as a city "built by gentlemen for gentlemen", contains many beautiful and historic churches, palaces and residences most of which are between 250 and 400 years old. One of these is Casa Rosselli Massa at 167 Merchants Street, which today is the main office of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Malta.
Casa Rosselli Massa, 167 Merchants Street Valletta
Pietro Rosselli was a Maltese goldsmith who was born in Valletta on 23 February 1607. He had established himself sufficiently by the age of 27 to be given the exalted title of Magistratus in the parish register entry of his marriage, which was celebrated on 29 April 1635. He married Alusietta Massa who was the daughter of the Master of the Mint, Mastro Antonio Massa.
"Their palatial house still stands at 167, Merchants Street, Valletta. It is the corner house where Merchants Street and St. Christopher Street intersect. Conspicuous on the façade is a solitary heron encircled by a heron encircled by a wreath and the initials P.R. and A.M. The laudable recent restoration of the façade of this building has again uncovered incised in the keystone of two of the ground floor windows, the badge of the Arcikonfraternita tal-Karita over three herons which feature in the Rosselli family crest" (Alfred Zahra deDomenico Silver and Banqueting in Malta Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti 1995).
Pietro Rosselli and Alusietta Massa enjoyed great esteem in Maltese society and with the Order. The Order honoured him by making him a Donat, while both Grand Masters Jean Paul Lascaris Castellar and Martin de Redin appointed him Jurat of the Valletta and harbour cities Universita in 1649,1650,1658 and 1659. The respect the Rossellis enjoyed is understandable as they were great philanthropists. They are reputed to have paid for the building and decoration of the Oratory of the Goldsmiths' Confraternity, and for the embellishment of the Confraternity's chapel in St. Paul's Shipwreck church in Valletta. In 1662 Pietro and his wife took possession and financed the building of the chapel of San Pietro ad Vinculis in the Jesuits Church across the road from their home in 167 Merchants Street.
Pietro Rosselli died in April 1676. It is possible that he was the victim of a terrible plague that ravaged Malta that year. His wife Alusietta died six years later. They are buried in their chapel in the former Jesuit Church in Merchants Street beneath a tombstone bearing Pietro Rosselli's crest.
