In the autumn of 2010, Suzanne and Christopher Sharp went for an impromptu viewing of a mansion in Malta. It was in the tranquil interior of the island, on a street in the ancient village of Attard. Behind its limestone façade, the founders of The Rug Company discovered a dimly lit, flagstone-floored interior layered with bourgeois furniture and papal art. “It had a very nostalgic atmosphere,” says Suzanne of the house, called Casa Bonavita. “We couldn’t believe we had walked into something so unspoilt.”
The dining room at Casa Bonavita in Malta, looking through to an early-19th-century Italian cabinet © Stefan Giftthaler
Though not looking to buy, the Sharps were beguiled both by the mansion’s romantic dilapidation and the surprise immediately south of it: a series of unusually large, high-walled gardens. “It’s an unassuming exterior that gradually unveils itself,” says Christopher of its shaded paths, populated by statuary and hot-pink flashes of bougainvillea. With the delicate scent of orange blossom pervading the air, it proved irresistible. “It was such a rare find,” says Christopher. “We fell in love.”
Casa Bonavita was built in 1715, between the walled city of Valletta and Mdina, the old baroque capital, as the country residence of a Francophile family with Venetian roots that rose to prominence in Maltese society in the 1600s. In the years that followed the Sharps’ acquisition, the house became a place of solace for them as well. They holidayed there, retreated to it with their family during lockdown and hosted their daughter’s wedding on the premises – all while gradually reviving its interiors, tearing down false ceilings to reveal the original grandeur of its corbels and arches. As they did, an intriguing idea began to unfurl: what if they were to transform their occasional home into a hotel?
