Attard - San Anton Palace

In 1620 Antoine de Paule began to enlarge his country house near Attard. When he became grand master three years later he so disliked the long journey to the traditional summer palace at Verdala that he adopted San Anton Palace as his summer retreat. The palace has been tinkered with by successive grand masters.

The public section of the gardens were opened in 1882. The oldest part of the well-maintained and mature grounds is the Eagle Pond, dating from 1623, at the opposite end of the palace. In addition, there is a small aviary and most of the trees, plants and flowers are flagged. Among the numerous species are Washington palms, Jacaranda, Norfolk Island pines, citrus, avocado, bamboo and the wonderfully twisted roots of the