Girgenti Palace


Girgenti Palace is a palace near Siġġiewi, Malta. It was built in 1625 as the summer residence of Malta's inquisitor, and is therefore also known as the Inquisitor's Palace. It is now an official residence of the Prime Minister of Malta.

History

Girgenti Palace was built in 1625 as the summer residence of Inqusitor Onorato Visconti, on a strip of land confiscated from Matteo Falson or Falzon, who had been condemned as a heretic. Falzon was not accused alone as also Cleric Wenzu Falzon had been accused with him of witchcraft. Wenzu took a self-exile in France were he continued a life of against church teaching and Matti went into hiding in Sicily. Both were sentenced in absentia by the inquisition with representative ‘corps’. No property at all was taken from Wenzu as he had nothing of real value left behind. Matti remained known by the locals as the "Falzon Wizard".
The palace has a simple layout, with its rooms arranged in a rectilinear layout. It has a plain façade, with few decorative elements.
A chapel dedicated to St Charles Borromeo was built near the palace in 1763 by Inquisitor Angelo Maria Durini.
The palace remained the summer residence of the inquisitors until 1798, when the Inquisition was abolished during the French occupation of Malta. It was subsequently used as a summer residence for the Lieutenant-Governors of Malta. In World War II, some of the collections of the Palace Armoury were stored at Girgenti Palace for safekeeping.
The palace was left abandoned until it was restored between 1988 and 1990, and converted into the summer residence of the Prime Minister of Malta.
It is occasionally open to the public.
The palace was included on the Antiquities List of 1925.
Both the palace and its chapel are listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.