Pullicino was born in
Valletta on 8 July 1779, as the son of Pietro Paolo Pullicino and his wife Clara née Azzarillo. He was the nephew of the painter
Alberto Pullicino. He had an inclination to drawing from a young age, and attended a design school run by
Michele Busuttil before being sent to
Rome in 1794 to study at the
Accademia di San Luca. Pullicino studied the works of
Raphael and
Titian, and met a number of the leading artists of the time, including
Antonio Canova. He became familiar with
neoclassicism in both art and architecture, including the works of the French architect
Claude Nicolas Ledoux. During Pullicino's six years abroad, Malta had been transformed by political turmoil.
Hospitaller rule had ended in 1798 when the islands were
invaded and occupied by the French. The Maltese later
rebelled against French rule with British, Neapolitan and Portuguese assistance, and Malta became a
British protectorate in September 1800. In that same month, Pullicino arrived in Malta from Rome and went to live with his mother in Valletta. He married Vincenza Attard in April 1807, with whom he had seven children. In 1803, Pullicino became a professor of drawing and architecture within the
University of Malta. He officially became qualified as
perito agrimensore (architect and surveyor) in 1830. Pullicino was a representative of the Maltese body of architects in a petition to the Royal Commission on the Affairs of Malta in 1836. He retired in 1839, but continued to work in his private studio for another three years. For the last few years of his life, he was confined to his home in Valletta due to an illness. He died on 25 October 1851 at the age of 72. ==Works==