The owner of the Grade 1 scheduled Villa Barbaro in Tarxien has made a “desperate” appeal to counter yet another five-floor development application that has reared its ugly head opposite the 500-year-old property. The pre-Great Siege historic monument is once again being faced by looming flats, threatening its important context, which Marquis Tony Cremona-Barbaro has been fighting to protect for over a decade. Admitting to being “mentally exhausted”, Cremona-Barbaro described the situation as another “siege”, listing six pending development applications in front of the 17th century villa that risked burying it under apartment blocks. He was only alerted to the application, PA 02316/21, two days before the recent deadline for objections. But heritage and environment NGOs have scrambled to file their representations against the latest attack. Reaching out to “those who have our precious built heritage at heart”, Cremona-Barbaro said the proposal to build five floors on the corner of Dejma Street – a mere “shocking” 13 metres from Villa Barbaro on Żejtun Road – would not only have a ruinous impact on the unique heritage monument but also on the traditional two-storey...
