Looking across from Malta’s capital city of Valletta, you can see Fort St. Angelo. It was originally built as a castle during the 13th century and was later refurbished by the Knights Hospitallers. Fort St. Angelo played a vital role during the 1565 Great Siege of Malta, when the Ottoman Empire tried to reclaim the country as a Muslim colony. Malta is littered with forts and ramparts built by the Hospitallers, a Catholic military order created during the Crusades.