Francesco Buonamici arrived in Malta on 1 September 1635 together with Pietro Paolo Floriani, sent here by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII, to help Grand Master Antoine de Paule sort out his many fortification problems in view of a possible attack by the Turks.

Buonamici was to spend some 24 years in Malta, finally leaving in 1659. A lifetime, one would say. But both before and after the Malta interlude there would be other achievements for him, possibly more important.

Floriani, who designed the outer fortifications of Valletta (which he insisted should remain completely bare between Valletta and the outer ring - as a result of the irony Floriana was named after him) did not stay long. He left on 23 October 1636, leaving Buonamici to carry on his work.

There are few details in this slim book about the fortification aspect of Buonamici's work but according to Stephen Spiteri far more details on technical matters can be found in the Order's archives kept at the National Library.

However, over and above his military work, Buonamici found time for other work. To him we owe the façade of the Jesuit church in Valletta as well as the dome which at last brought light in a previously dark church.

Other works ascribed to him included the Lascaris warehouses on the Valletta waterfront, what used to be the wonderful place known as Gnien is-Sultan near the Victoria Gate, the façade and more of the parish church of Rabat and what is now known as the Wignacourt Museum, the rebuilding of the All Souls church in Valletta and many other projects.

The author mentions a building block in Old Bakery Street, Valletta, the Monte di Pieta, the facade of the palace of the Inquisition in Vittoriosa, the Oratory of the Jesuit church, the Hotel de Verdelin in Valletta, the palace of the Captain of the Galleys, the Balzan parish church, the chapel of St Anthony at Verdala, and so on. All these new buildings did not leave him with much free time.

Buonamici was born in Lucca at a time when there were issues between the Republic and the Papacy in Rome. The glory days of the Republic had long been over. There was strife, violence and periodically the plague. When still quite young, Buonamici moved to Rome where he soon came under the protection of the influential Buonvisi family. Until then, Buonamici was more an artist than an architect and his first work consisted in the thorough restructuring of an old church near the Quirinale Palace after which it was renamed S. Croce dei Lucchesi e S. Bonaventura. For this church Buonamici painted a copy of the Volto Santo that is revered in Lucca.

After the plague in Lucca had abated, (the same plague immortalised by Alessandro Manzoni in the Promessi Sposi) Buonamici and others were charged with building a church to commemorate the victims of the plague. This is the Suffragio church in Lucca.

Back in Rome, the artist/architect took a hand in the restructuring of the Palazzo Giustiniani in Rome and in creating the scenes for the opera Sant'Alessio, which was put on at Palazzo Barberini in 1632.

This enabled the artist/architect to draw near the Accademia di San Luca and near the orbit of the aforementioned Cardinal Barberini who soon sent him to Malta.

After his Malta experience, Buonamici, this time as architect, was invited by the bishop of Syracuse to help modernise the medieval city of Ortigia. This culminated in the building of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the cathedral.

He was also invited to do work in the cities of Messina, Palermo and Trapani. In Messina he oversaw the restoration of the church of S. Giovanni a Malta while in Palermo he was responsible for the building of the Jesuit College. In Trapani he took over the Jesuit College in the best street of the town and created a Jesuit church, which is very similar to the Jesuit church in Valletta.

He returned to his native Lucca in 1659 but earlier in 1646 was already collaborating on the new fortifications of the town. Now old, Buonamici was invited to restructure the old church of S. Romano and bring it up to date with the new Baroque sensibility. This was to be his magnum opus. His very last task was to build a new public theatre.

Buonamici died on 26 June 1677 and is buried in the Suffragio church, which he had designed.