Rinella battery was built in the late nineteenth century at a time when the growing naval power of nearby Italy posed a potential threat to British commerce and navigation in the Mediterranean.
Today, after more than a century in disuse, both gun and battery are back into the limelight. With the help of the volunteer members of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, both battery and gun were secured for posterity. They are today open to visitors as well-deserved monuments to a time in history when dependence of man on machine became increasingly a daily fact of life.