A crumbling 1715 mansion in the Maltese village of Attard has been reborn as Casa Bonavita, one of the island's most characterful boutique hotels. The project is the work of Suzanne and Christopher Sharp, founders of The Rug Company, who found the property back in 2010 and spent 15 years restoring it, first as a family home and later as a hotel, with help from their antiques-dealer son and ceramicist daughter. That family fingerprint is everywhere, and it's the main reason to care.
Inside, the vibe is faded aristocratic grandeur rather than glossy five-star. Think frescoed 19th-century ceilings, Aubusson carpets, Genoese furniture, suzani textiles, Karabagh rugs and ceramic lamps made at the family's own Villa Bologna Pottery workshop nearby. False ceilings were torn out to reveal the original arches, and the limestone facade hides sprawling walled gardens full of bougainvillea and orange blossom. It feels like a lived-in palazzo, not a staged hotel.
There are just 17 rooms across the main house and two annexes, seven of them in the original building, including a former "salone nobile" suite with a classic Maltese balcony. Families and groups should look at the Dower's House: five bedrooms linked by connecting balconies, bookable as a private villa-within-a-hotel with the main kitchen, gardens and spa on tap.
The extras are genuinely appealing. Guests can wander into the original Sicilian-tiled kitchen, fitted with a Lacanche range, to help themselves to coffee, fruit or a midnight snack. There's a hand-painted dining room and pergola (both open to non-guests), a bar with chartreuse velvet sofas and a subterranean spa with two pools behind Sicilian-tiled doors. Dress code is relaxed linen-and-sandals beach chic, not polished resort wear.
The honest trade-off is soul versus location. Attard is inland, sitting between Valletta and the old capital Mdina, so there are no sea views and you'll need a car or taxi for the coast. Rooms start at £623, well above standard Maltese rates, and with only 17 rooms it will book out quickly. But for design-minded travellers who'd rather skip the backpacker and package crowds clustered in Valletta, this is a reason to give Malta more than a day trip. Nearby, Villa Bologna Pottery is worth a detour for ceramics and has a good Italian restaurant, and Mdina — the walled "Silent City" — is a 10-minute taxi ride away, at its most atmospheric after the day-trippers leave.
Review stay arranged with Casa Bonavita — story via Suitcase Magazine.
