Fodor's Expert Review Fort St. Angelo

Vittoriosa's headland has always been hot property. Before 1530, when the Knights of the Order of St. John first landed and set up base here, it had been home to castles and temples dating from the Phoenecian era. When the Knights were later ousted in 1798, it became HQ for Napoleon's invading French army, and then later the British Navy—it was the last piece of Malta to be handed over by the Brits, who retained a naval base here 15 years after independence was declared in 1964. Today's layout owes much to its strengthening in 1690 by the engineer Don Carlos de Grunenberg. So successful was his design that, some 250 years later, it was able to withstand 69 direct hits by World War II bombers. Nazi propaganda even famously claimed it had "sunk HMS St Angelo" (as the fort was then known by the British) despite it not being a ship. But its starring moment was during the Great Siege of 1565, when it repelled wave after wave of Ottoman Turks over three long, hot summer months. Following extensive renovations, completed in 2016, it reopened as a museum, narrating tales of wartime heroics and ghosts, all woven through a series of thrilling rooms and interactive exhibits spanning its long history. READ LESS