The Monte di Pietà, formerly known as the Monte di Sant'Anna, is a charitable institution which lends money to those in need at modest interest rates, on the security of gold, silver or other precious articles given in pawn. In Malta the institution was set up in 1598, was known in the British period as the Public Pawn-Brokery, and it is still in operation today as part of the Inland Revenue Department. Since 1773, the Monte di Pietà has been housed in a 16th-century building in Valletta.
Entrance hall
Monte di Sant' Anna (right) with later joined houses Casa Galea (middle) and Nunnery of St Ursula (left), together became known as the Monte di Pietà Buildings
The Castellania, also known as the Castellania Palace, is a former courthouse and prison in Valletta, Malta that currently houses the country's health ministry. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1757 and 1760, on the site of an earlier courthouse which had been built in 1572.
The main façade of the Castellania in 2018
Inscription commemorating the reconstruction of the Castellania
Interior of the Castellania
A prison cell in the Castellania