A year after The King’s Speech had its glorious moment at the Oscars, the stage version is now at the West End. This time around it is the turn of Charles Edwards to step into the role of King George VI and Emma Fielding playing Queen Elizabeth.
The therapy room skilfully reproduced on stage still reminds us of the multi-coloured walls at Lucia Nova. The combination of colours and materials work well on the set as they do at Lucia Nova. Harper’s Bazaar aptly describes Lucia as “stunning as a film set’. (see post here).
Enjoy the history of the house where simple materials, like distressed Maltese tiles, old wooden doors and layers of paint, have been preserved with love for their beauty and memory of the place.
Lucia Nova welcomes you to spend time in the old quarter of Valletta – a city full of history, amazing small restaurants and open air coffee shops.

More information about the King’s Speech: 
Wyndhams Theatre
The King’s Speech – The Play
London Theatre

Lucia Nova
www.lucianova.com

Since opening in 2006, Valletta Suites has quickly become one of Valletta’s most sought-after boutique accommodations. Maison La Vallette and Valletta Nobile have been featured in prominent magazines and publications. Our latest addition is Lucia Nova, coined by Harper’s Bazaar January 2012 issue, as ‘the city secret’ for the best boutique accommodation in town. Described as being ‘as stunning as a film set’ with walls artistically distressed and ‘its pretty furniture picked from design hotspots around the Med.’

A truly amazing place to spend time in a historic city - Harper’s Bazaar A-list Travel Guides.

The Magician

We love all fourteen Mix Tapes by The Magician. And they are free to download. If you are in a rush packing for your vacation in Valletta, no worries! You can listen to some of the mix tapes in your room! We have added some of the tapes to our music collection – for you to enjoy.

When decorating Lucia Nova, we wanted to radiate the warmth and happiness of the Maltese weather – the sun. We opted for yellow. This vivid colour brings happiness and life and reflects the philosophy of Lucia Nova. Yellow shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow instill optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts. It also contrasts the bluish, textured walls in the bedroom at Lucia Nova.

The June issue of Elle Décor featured a full page on Yellow (Trend Alert). We love the Marc Jacobs dress and Fermob’s chair! More images here.

In 2011 it’s probably more of a saying. But the setting in the picture made us smile and think of the contrast in Valletta years ago. Holy Malta mixed with British sailors and Valletta prostitutes in Strait Street. Strait Street itself is ironically touching the nun’s convent. Today the once-famous-street is mostly offices, however the lower parts are still full of character including the original bar signs.

Preparations for the Brad Pitt movie, filmed in St Domenic Street - Valletta. Source: Valletta Suites

Brad Pitt is currently in Malta filming World War Z. Angelina Jolie together with her kids visited him, dined at Da Pippo and took the kids to Splash&Fun Park. We are looking forward to seeing the transformed Valletta streets in the movie.

More information about World War Z movie here.

Vintage tin toys at the Flea Market in Birgu

Occasionally, on Sundays, we get the chance to visit the flea market in Birgu. The mix of vintage items, furniture pieces and odd-and-ends are truly inspiring. These rusting tin toys caught our eye – and brought to us nostalgic memories of childhood. The flea market is open on Sunday mornings early till around 12:00.

Above: Lucia, with the Maltese Cross in mind, eagerly plastering the walls.

A sneak preview into the Bedroom II at Lucia Nova. We would not like to give out our secret recipe for the walls of the new bedroom, however dark brown tones of stucco veneziano were chosen to render part of these walls.  A colour that was picked up from one of the layers of paint discovered when scraping the walls. For the rest of the room, exposed Maltese limestone walls, rich dark marble trims, patterned tiles and textured fabrics. Our main ingredients – lots of fun and passion for our work.

(top) The 'Therapy Room' from The King's Speech and (below) the scraped walls in the bedroom at Lucia Nova in Valletta

At Valletta Suites we are all excited about the new film The King’s Speech. It is probably my favourite movie of the year and for more than one reason.
It could have been filmed at Lucia Nova, or at Maison La Vallette, mixed with the sofa at Valletta Nobile. All the set elements are present at Valletta Suites – and that is why we are so excited.

The walls in the office are exactly what we have managed to achieve after two years of extensive renovation at Lucia Nova - our latest addition to Valletta Suites. We were stunned by the effect of semi-scraped walls as work was progressing at Lucia Nova. Layers of peeling paint were revealed and the history of the place merge together under our eyes like a tapestry with a thousand hues.  What also struck a note about the film set, was the gilt settee in Lionel’s office. This creates a dramatic contrast between the raw walls and the elegant lines of the carved settee. At Lucia Nova we sourced a Venetian headboard upholstered in white silk. This was particularly chosen because of the connection between the two seafaring nations and the history that links them together. The visual effect is stunning just as in Lionel’s office – without the stammering.