page_title: Castello Dei Baroni
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Castello Dei Baroni / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Castello dei Baroni
context_page_description: Castello Dei Baroni is a 20th-century residence in Wardija, Malta. In the 18th-century, during the magistracy of Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, a rural building was constructed on site. The Montalto family owned the whereabouts of its site in the 20th-century, and built the Castello Dei Baroni, incorporating the old structure. It was then purchased by Adrian Busietta and Maria Caruana, when it was renovated into a mock castle and given its name. It has since then mainly served as a wedding reception.
  Busietta and Caruana enlarged and renovated the building which for a period served as the headquarters of the Ecumenical Order, and for third parties activities. The building remains open to the public, against payment, as a house museum, exhibiting a number of items. It is occasionally used for charity purposes and other initiatives. It is found in a remote area.
  It is a limestone building with two floors and a back garden. The main layout of the interior feature the intact 18th-century building, a spacious hall, a library, a typical Grand Master bedroom, and a chapel.
context_section_description: The Castello Dei Baroni is believed to be a structure built over what may have been a peasants' lodge dating back to the rule of the Order of St. John. In around 1783, during the magistracy of Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, peasants built a roofed structure in the land owned by a Maltese noble family. The structure was originally a small Maltese farmhouse, today consisting of at least one room, which may have been used at some point in the 18th-century as a hunting lodge. It may have been used by the knights of the Order of St. John, but there is no historic certainty over such claim.
  In the 20th-century, the site of the present Castello Dei Baroni was an uncultivated agricultural field incorporating the 18th-century building and rubble walls. Sometimes in the early 20th-century, the Attard Montalto family built the Castello Dei Baroni, presumably named after the Barons of the family, and used it as a country residence. The Barons probably used it as a hunting lodge, and thus it may be said to have been a baronial hunting lodge.
  Adrian Busietta, the later owner of the residence, was born on 14 January 1935 to William Busietta and Evelyn (née Casolani), a working-class family, and lived his early life in Sliema. He was introduced to his eventual wife, Eileen "dei Conti" Sant Fournier, by his uncle John Fleri who worked for the Sant Fournier family. The encounter is said to have led to an arranged marriage; Busietta had always estranged his wife whom he married on 10 October 1958, and who bore him three children: Hadrian Jr., Rowena and Fiona. His marriage to Eileen was a turning point from a simple clerk to a prosperous life and opened before him a number of career opportunities such as a banker, businessman, and the President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce. After Busietta gained access to his wife and family business, he spent money on luxurious goods, creating several financial debts, and was partially to blame for the liquidation of the many companies and assets owned by the family. Busietta had an extra matrimonial relationship with his mistress, Maria "Marie Angelique" Caruana, during which period they had a child. In 1975 Busietta and Eileen separated and went to live apart, with Eileen gaining custody of the children. Busietta and his wife eventually entered a divorce process, which eventually succeeded in 1978. After some years, Eileen entered into a relationship with a man named Vince, whom also fathered his step-children.
  Around January 1965, Busietta and Caruana, the later ‘Duke’ and a ‘Dame’ of the Ecumenical Order, bought the Castello Dei Baroni but it was claimed in a court sitting under oath that it was not intended and never used as a residence. Together, they made projects to renovate the residence with modern needs. The couple restored the 18th century building, enlarged the property at different points, decorated it with typical 17th and 18th-century fittings, and adapted with necessarily requirements.
  The interior of the building features prominently a chamber for the Supreme Council, also used for entertainment purposes and events. The chamber is the main setting for activities hosted by the Grand Master and the Duke, and other official decisions by the Ecumenical Order. The building incorporates a library with literature dating to the 16th-century onward, including books and manuscripts. Another room for official use is the lavishly styled dining area, which is used for events of the Ecumenical Order and occasionally by third parties. A spacious room in the building is used as a chapel. The hosts have recreated an upstairs bedroom with typical 17th-century fittings for a Grand Master.
  The now spacious building made it ideal as the headquarters for the Ecumenical Order, a function which hosted since 1991. It is the seat for public relations and diplomacy, officially known as the "Headquarters of the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem" (OSJ) but simply known also officially as "the Ecumenical Order." It is also sometimes known as the American Order, the Shi
caption: Entrance gate with the Busietta and Caruana coat-of-arms
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