Casa Leoni is located at Santa Venera, Central Region, Malta

Tags : #Residence, #LandmarkHistoricalPlace, #Landmark&HistoricalPlace

Location :

Santa Venera, Central Region

Added by Jopie, at 01 January 2020

Casa Leoni or Casa Leone, also known as Palazzo Manoel or the Vilhena Palace, is a palace in Santa Venera, Malta, which was built as a summer residence for Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena in 1730. It was subsequently used for a number of purposes, including as an insurgent command base, an official residence, a museum depository and a school. It currently houses the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change.HistoryCasa Leoni was built in 1730 as a summer residence for Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, and it was originally called Palazzo Manoel. The building is located close to the Wignacourt Aqueduct, in an area that was originally in the limits of Ħamrun but which later became the separate locality of Santa Venera. It was designed by the French architect Charles François de Mondion.During the French blockade of 1798–1800, Casa Leoni served as a command base for the Maltese insurgent National Congress Battalions. A grenadier company known as the Granatieri was set up specifically to guard this headquarters.Casa Leoni subsequently became a residence for the Governor of Malta, and later for the Lieutenant-Governor. After World War II, it was used as a depository by the Museums Department. The building was converted into a museum in 1952, but the project was unsuccessful and it closed down soon afterwards. While surving as a museum, two gibbets from Villa Frere in Pietà were transferred to Casa Leoni. It later served as a government primary school until 1968.