Vincenti Tower ( mt, Torri Vinċenti) is a

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

Mqabba Mqabba ( mt, L-Imqabba) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,300 inhabitants. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the villag ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It was built in 1726 by Fra Orfeo de Vincenzo, a Prior of the

Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

. It forms part of a countryside residence, which also includes a palace/farmhouse known as ''Ta' Torri Spero'', and a garden between the palace and the tower. The tower was originally four stories high, with a balcony on its second floor, and it had a scarped base which made it somewhat similar to coastal watchtowers such as the

De Redin towers The De Redin Towers ( mt, Torrijiet ta' De Redin) are a series of small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Knights Hospitaller, Order of Saint John between 1658 and 1659. Thirteen towers were built around the coast of Malta (island), mainl ...

. The tower had a coat of arms and an inscription commemorating its construction, but these are now lost. Vincenti Tower in Imqabba 1942

On 2 June 1941, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the British military requisitioned the tower from its owner Sir William John England, and used it as an Observation Post. It was prone to aerial bombardment due to its proximity to the

RAF Luqa Royal Air Force Luqa was a Royal Air Force station located on the island of Malta, now developed into the Malta International Airport. It hosted aircraft of Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta) during the Second World War. Particularly during ...

airfield. It was hit on 12 April 1942, and the bottom floor was damaged although the structure did not collapse. However, the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

later decided to pull down the tower since it was deemed dangerous to the nearby airfield. The upper sections were pulled down, but the scarped ground floor and part of the first floor were retained. Ta Torri Spero

Today, the remains of the tower as well as the nearby garden and farmhouse are private property. The tower was included on the Antiquities List of 1925 as "the old tower", and it was scheduled as a Grade 1 monument by the

Malta Environment and Planning Authority The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA, mt, L-Awtorità ta' Malta dwar l-Ambjent u l-Ippjanar) was the national agency responsible for the environment and planning in Malta. It was established to regulate the environment and planning ...

in 1997. It is also listed on the

National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands The National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands (NICPMI) is a heritage register listing the cultural property of Malta. The inventory includes properties such as archaeological sites, fortifications, religious buildings, mon ...

References

Fortified towers in Malta Mqabba Houses completed in 1726 Limestone buildings in Malta National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands {{Malta-struct-stub