History Manderaggio

1566 engraving of valletta, showing proposed galley pen left

when city of valletta began constructed in 1566, order of st. john planned build mandracchio, sheltered area serve galley pen, in marsamxett harbour. area began excavated, , stones quarried used build houses in city. however, rocks proved unsuitable construction. pen mean galleys placed in marsamxett harbour did not offer protection grand harbour. thus, project abandoned.

between 1572 , 1600, houses began built within abandoned quarry. outer houses, located in 4 streets surrounding area (st. mark, st. lucia, st. patrick , marsamxett streets), kept architecture of valletta, inner circle of houses built no prior planning, , became slum area.

the entrances slum area located in st. mark, st. lucia , st. patrick streets. entrance @ st. mark street known il-mina taċ-Ċintura, while @ st. lucia street called it-tomba tal-mandraġġ. manderaggio consisted of single street called triq il-mandraġġ (manderaggio street), number of alleys, known several names such it-triq tal-kanal (canal street) , it-triq ta taħt il-bastjun (street under bastion).

at main entrance, manderaggio street 7 m (23 ft) wide, streets in other parts of valletta. however, along way street 2 m (6 ft 7 in) wide, buildings being 3 m (9.8 ft) away each other. streets in manderaggio had length of around 574 m (1,883 ft), area had road space of around 1,940 m (20,900 sq ft)

the heights of buildings in manderaggio ranged around 2 3 floors in st. mark street, 4 floors in st. lucia street, , 4 or 5 floors in st. patrick , marsamxett streets.

in 20th century, manderaggio had population of 2544.