The Palazzo Parisio is the finest privately owned palazzo in Malta. Built in 1898 by Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna on the site of an earlier Knights' hunting lodge, it is a late-Victorian exercise in extravagance — frescoed ceilings, marble floors, gilded mirrors, and formal gardens in the Italian style, all created by Italian artists and craftsmen brought to Malta for the purpose.
The state rooms on the ground floor are open for guided tours, and the gardens — laid out in formal parterres with orange and lemon trees, fountains, and sculpted hedges — are among the most beautiful in Malta. The cafe in the palazzo's former orangery serves coffee and cakes in surroundings that make it easy to forget you are in a suburban Maltese town. The palazzo also hosts private events, which occasionally restricts access — check opening hours before visiting.