Manuel Pinto de Fonseca

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manuel Pinto de Fonseca (1681 - 23 January 1773) was a Knight of the Langue of Portugal. He was Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Religion of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, of Palestine, of Rhodes, and called Malta, from 1741 to 1773.

The arch of Grandmaster Emanoel Pinto de Fonseca, under which he used to relax and watch his city, in Qormi.

He was elected on 18 January 1741. On 25 May 1743 he gave his name to the then town of Qormi giving it the status of a city (Città Pinto). In 1749, one of his bodyguards, Cassar, refused to join a plot led by Pasha Mustafa to stage a muslim slave revolt. This refusal led to the exposure and suppression of the revolt. This event was then celebrated on every anniversary, 29th June. Pinto created several new noble titles which was greatly resented by some of the older nobles of Malta and gained a reputation for imposing heavy taxes. He expelled of the Jesuits from Malta He completed the Auberge de Castille, one of the most important buildings in the capital city, Valletta, which had been started in 1574 and his bust and arms adorn its facade. Today this building houses the Office of the Prime Minister. He made sunbstantial donations to the Conventual Church and built severalfstorehouses on the Marina which still bear his name. When he died his body was laid in a monument with a mosaic portrayal of him. This is a major tourist attraction in Malta.

He was a friend of Cagliostro.