Alberto La Ferla

Alberto Laferla (1898–1942) was a Maltese architect, active in the 1920s and 1930s.

Laferla graduated in architecture from the University of Malta and continued his studies in Turin. As he deemed Art Nouveau to be a decadent style, he aimed to detach himself from any reference to it. He rather adhered to the new Italian architectural fashion: monumentalism and Stile Littorio.

After graduating, Laferla worked in the architectural studio of Enrico Del Debbio in Rome, architect of the Stadio dei Marmi and Foro Mussolini. although Mark G. Muscat assesses it as "an agglomeration of past references that were all crammed into a single exhibit".

The same year, Laferla took part in the Valletta Lay-Out Competition, being the only Maltese architect receiving an honourable mention. Laferla suggested to demolish the Third Valletta City Gate to replace it with a wider one, "masculine and stern" (“maschia e severa”), in line with the surrounding bastions, to "recall the achievements of the Great Siege and immortalise in stone and marble the glorious Order of the Knights of Malta". He claimed to be inspired in his design by Bramante’s Belvedere in the Vatican Gardens. Laferla also suggested a design for the façade fronting Strada Reale to harmonize with the Royal Opera House and Palazzo Buttigieg-Francia, as well as two tunnel entrances to Valletta, one in line with Strada Forni under Saint James Cavalier, the other in line with Strada Mercanti under Saint John's Cavalier.

Laferla practiced in Malta in the 1930s. He authored Casa Beatrice, Sliema,

At the start of World War II, Laferla was interned as an italophile, but instead of being exiled to Uganda he was detained at the St Agatha camp in Rabat. He died there in 1942, victim of an air bomb attack by the Luftwaffe, at the age of 44.

His son, Renato Laferla was also a well-known architect who pursued modernist designs.