The New Luxury Attard Palazzo That Doesn’t Really Want to Be Called a Hotel
Someone spent ten years restoring an 18th-century palazzo in Attard. On purpose. Does Malta need another hotel opening? Probably not. Does this one warrant a second look? I bloody well think so. Here’s why.
Casa Bonavita is the work of Suzanne and Christopher Sharp — founders of The Rug Company, the London-born luxury rug brand with showrooms running from Boston to Beirut. Suzanne grew up in Malta, and this project is about as personal as it gets. She’s described it as her love letter to the island.
Less a hotel in the conventional sense, more like being invited into someone’s very beautiful life. Their daughter Sophie runs the Villa Bologna pottery studio nearby, which means the family’s relationship with Malta runs considerably deeper than one project. Overachievers, the lot of them.
The building dates to 1715. Very Baroque. It opened in May 2026.
The Rooms
Seventeen rooms, no two the same. The kind of bedrooms that make you want to invent a reason to stay an extra night. Coral striped four-posters, gilded baroque mirrors, pineapple lamps, checkerboard stone floors, hand-painted wallpapers. Somewhere between a Visconti film set and a Slim Aarons photograph that hasn’t been discovered yet. Every detail looks like it’s been gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Twice. By someone who genuinely could not help themselves.
The Restaurant
The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Dex Oseman, who trained at the River Café in London. The River Café, for context, is the kind of place you spend weeks trying to get a table at and still feel smug about when you do. Back in my London days, you couldn’t have kept me away. Having that level of kitchen land in Attard matters.
The dining room does its part. Painted botanical murals everywhere you look, rattan chairs, linen tables, ceiling fans. A second more intimate dining room lined floor to ceiling with paintings feels like eating inside someone’s very good art collection. Both open onto a flagstone courtyard among orange trees for outdoor dining.
The Kitchen
The drop-in kitchen — hand-painted Maltese tiles wall to wall, professional range, still-life paintings stacked along the ceiling — suggests the whole food operation is taking things seriously without making a production of it. Fresh cakes to be had here
The Valletta Bar
Floor to ceiling, the bar is painted with 17th-century Valletta — harbour, ships, the full scene. There’s also a model tall ship sitting on the actual bar counter, which tells you everything you need to know about the level of commitment happening here. Yellow armchairs you’ll sink into and not leave. Classic cocktails until whenever. Even the grumpiest person in the room will be fine after ten minutes in here.
The Spa
Deep red Moroccan tiles floor to ceiling, arched doorways, warm lamplight. Sauna, cold plunge, hammam, treatments, a relaxation room, a gym. On paper it’s a spa. In practice it looks like the kind of place that makes the rest of your itinerary feel suddenly negotiable.
The Garden
Two pools, subtropical planting, flagstone paths that seem to go on longer than they should. The kind of garden you wander into and suddenly forty minutes have passed. Mary Lennox would have been insufferable about it.
Anyway, you know what to do.
Casa Bonavita opened 15 May 2026. Guests must be aged 12 and over. Bookings via reception@casabonavita.com.
Casa Bonavita
147 Triq San Anton
Attard
Website
Photography: Casa Bonavita Instagram
