400-year-old Valletta gardens to open for public during green festival

Two 400-year-old gardens in Valletta will be opening their doors for the public for the first time during the Valletta Green Festival, being held between May 6 and 8. The Festival is a Valletta 2018 initiative injecting colour into an otherwise urban landscape. The gardens lie in the heart of St. Catherine’s Monastery, a 16th century building in Republic Street run by cloistered nuns and the Archbishop’s Palace in Archbishop Street. Both gardens will be open between 9am and noon and from 4 to 7pm during the three days of the festival.  Valletta 2018 chairman Jason Micallef said the festival offered a unique opportunity for families to visit Valletta during Mother’s Day weekend and enjoy these secret gardens in the heart of the city. Now in its  third  edition,  the  festival  again  features the Infiorata, a  large  carpet  made  up  of more than 80,000 potted plants, bringing a pop of colour to St George’s Square.  The infiorata this year will be a reproduction of the  outline  of  one  of  Valletta’s  early  plans  and  its  fortifications.  The background design surrounding the outline will reflect an artistic reinterpretation of the grid of straight streets which...