Fort St. Elmo

Fort St Elmo, at the tip of the peninsula, was designed to protect the entrance to Grand Harbor. It was built in 1553 under the Spanish Grand Master, Juan de Homedes (1536-63), incorporating parts of a medieval Spanish fortress, which itself had succeeded an earlier Norman fortification on the same site.

Fort St Elmo was destroyed during the 1565 Siege and rebuilt at the time of the foundation of Valletta. During the World War II it successfully repelled a German naval attack.