Fort Rinella

Fort Rinella was built by the British in Victorian times to help protect the Grand Harbour of Valletta. Sitting like a tired dinosaur on top of the fort is a 100-ton Armstrong gun – also built by the British to protect naval shipping in the area from the newest generation of Italian battleships.

Luckily, the monster gun was never fired in anger, but an amusing tale about its first test still does the rounds much to the embarrassment of military experts and the local military conservationists who have done a wonderful job restoring and maintaining both the cannon and the fort.


The story goes that when the gun was first tested, the mighty 2,000-pound shell did not so much go searing into the sunny blue sky as plopping a few metres down into the sea below. If told, Queen Victoria cannot have been amused because a single shell cost, in those days, as much as the daily wage of 2,600 soldiers. In fact, such was the cost of the ammunition that the gun was only fired twice a year for practice.


The cannon and the fort that has housed it at Limits of Kalkara for so many decades are certainly worth a visit. When installed, the massive cannon was state-of-the-art, equipped with a steam powered hydraulic system that allowed the gun to be moved and aimed in all directions.

The fort itself is also sometimes also referred to as Rinella Battery and was built between 1878 and 1886. It stands east of the mouth of Grand Harbour, between Fort Ricasoli and Fort St Rocco.


Today, you can visit the museum and even attend, on the 5th May of every year, the annual firing of the gun by volunteers. These days, to avoid taking out any unsuspecting seabirds, fish or passing cruise liners, they use black powder only, so you can’t really prove or disprove that legend about its misfire.


Every afternoon the same dedicated volunteers, dressed as 19th century British soldiers, provide a tour of the fort that combines lectures, demonstrations and live re-enactments. A Victorian-era muzzle-loading fieldpiece is fired, again without shot, but sorry, there is no legend about that one.

Fort Rinella is one of the many fascinating things you will see in Malta with its authentic re-enactments and quite spectacular cannon. To get there by car, follow road signs for the Three Cities then Kalkara and Rinella, the fort is just up the coast from the capital to the east. There are buses to the fort direct from Valletta.