page_title: Fort Ricasoli
section_title: Construction and modifications
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Ricasoli / Hospitaller rule / Construction and modifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Isle of Malta. View of the entrance of the port of Valletta around 1750 with ships of the order of Saint John of Jerusalem under a storm.Français&#160;: Ile de Malte. Vue de l'entrée du port de La Valette vers 1750 avec des navires de l'ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem sous un orage.Español: Isla de Malta. Vista de la entrada del puerto de la Valleta alrededor de 1750 con barcos de la orden de San Juan de Jerusalén bajo una tormenta.
context_page_description: Fort Ricasoli is a bastioned fort in Kalkara, Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John between 1670 and 1698. The fort occupies a promontory known as Gallows' Point and the north shore of Rinella Bay, commanding the entrance to the Grand Harbour along with Fort Saint Elmo. It is the largest fort in Malta, and it has been on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1998, as part of the Knights' Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta.
  Fort Ricasoli saw use during the French invasion of Malta in 1798 and the subsequent Maltese insurrection, after which it ended up in British hands. Ricasoli was the site of the Froberg mutiny in 1807, and it was also used as a military hospital during the 19th century. It saw use once again in World War II, when parts of it were destroyed by aerial bombardment. After it was decommissioned in the 1960s, the fort was used for industrial purposes. Today, the fort remains mostly intact but in a dilapidated state, and it is used as a filming location and a tank cleaning facility. Plans to restore the fort were approved in June 2019.
context_section_description: In 1669, fears of an Ottoman attack rose after the fall of Candia, and the following year Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner invited Antonio Maurizio Valperga, the military engineer of the House of Savoy, to improve Malta's fortifications. Valperga designed a new fort to be built on the headland, and despite some criticism from within the order, the decision was eventually approved. The Florentine knight Fra Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli donated 20,000 scudi to construct the fort, and it was named in his honour.
  The first stone was laid down on 15 June 1670, and the initial stages of construction were supervised by Valperga himself. The fort received a skeleton garrison in June 1674, although it was still incomplete. In 1681, the Flemish engineer Carlos de Grunenbergh proposed some changes to the design of the fort, and these recommendations were implemented. The barracks, chapel and other buildings within the fort were constructed in the 1680s and 1690s, and the fort was officially declared complete and armed in May 1698.
  In 1714, the French engineers Jacop de Puigirand de Tigné, Charles François de Mondion and Philippe de Vendôme criticized the small size of the fort's bastions, which they deemed ineffective. De Tigné proposed a number of alterations, including repairing the existing parapets and embrasures, as well as constructing a retrenchment within the fort. Vendôme proposed the construction of a canal separating the fort from the mainland. In 1722, the repairs proposed by de Tigné were implemented, although the retrenchment and canal were never built due to a lack of funds. The fort was in a bad state by the mid-18th century, and some maintenance work was done in 1761.
  In 1785, Ricasoli was armed with eighty cannons, including forty-one 24-pounders, making it the most heavily armed fort in Malta. Parts of the fort's enceinte were rebuilt under the direction of Antoine Étienne de Tousard in the 1790s.
  The fort was also used as a prison prior to the construction of the Corradino Correctional Facility.
caption: Painting showing the entrance to the Grand Harbour in c. 1750, with Fort Ricasoli on the left and Fort Saint Elmo on the right
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