Villages

Victoria is known to one and all as Rabat, meaning suburb, as this city developed as the suburb of the Citadel. The name of Victoria was given to the town in 1887, in honour of Queen Victoria in her jubilee year.

Victoria is the capital of Gozo, which lies precisely in the centre of the island and is the most populated town. It is the administrative centre, which includes also the main schools, the hospital, and the law courts, serving the island's community. Its main building on the square is the Banca Giuratale, built between 1733-38, formerly the seat of the municipal government of Gozo and presently of the Victoria Local Council. An open market is held every morning in this square and several open air cafes are also found here.

Republic Street is Victoria's main street, flanked by shops, banks, theatres, restaurants, Police Headquarters, the Bishop's Chancery and Il-Mall or Rundle Gardens. These gardens were laid out by the British in 1910 and house a variety of local and imported trees, an oasis of peace in the centre of the busy town. Just off the main square, in the very heart of the old town, one finds the medieval parish church of St. George Martyr, referred to as the marble basilica, as it is entirely covered in marble. The present basilica was rebuilt by its supporters after the destruction by an earthquake in 1693. It has a profusely gilded interior and very impressive is the bronze and gilded canopy over the high altar. The main attraction is a statue of the patron Saint George, scuplted in wood in 1838.

An interesting chapel, among the many that are found in Victoria, is the 19th century chapel dedicated to Saint Martha, built in 1859. During winter months, Victoria bustles with activity from sun rise to sun set. Shoppers and friends mill around its main streets and quaint side roads, greeting each other, stopping to chat and catch up with the local gossip. In summer, however it quietens down as most people seek sea breezes in the popular summer resorts.

From Victoria roads radiate in the four directions towards the villages of Gozo.

Citadel - The ancient Citadel, is situated in Victoria and has been aptly called the Crown of Gozo. It was the centre of activity possibly since Neolithic times but it became the focal point of Gozo around 1500BC, when it was first fortified by the Bronze Age people. The Phoenicians developed it further and the Romans turned it into their acropolis dominated by a temple dedicated to Juno. The north side of the present fortifications date from the times of the Aragonese, while the southern flank, overlooking Victoria, was raised by the Knights of St. John between 1599 and 1603.

A visit to the Citadel is a must and the fatigue of going up the hill is fully rewarded. From the fortifications there is a superb view all around the horizon with vistas over the tiny fields cut by yellow stone walls, domes of village churches rising from clusters of houses and the Gordan Lighthouse.

The number of inhabitants in the Citadel is less than ten and half the place lies in archaeological ruins which are continuosly being restored. This results from an exodus in the 17th century to more spacious houses in Victoria. In the other half there is the Gozo Cathedral and the Law Courts, as well as the Cathedral Museum, the Gozo Musuem of Archaeology, the Folklore Museum, The Citadel Armoury and the Natural History Museum.
The most impressive of all is the Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Marija, the Assumption. A centuries-old belief, partly proved archaeologically, noted that a temple to Juno that had existed within the acropolis was rededicated by the early Christians to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the present building was raised between 1697 and 1711, remains of this temple were discovered in abundance.

The Cathedral is a fine baroque structure in the form of a Latin cross and is built entirely of the local limestone on a plan by the Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa'. Instead of bell towers, a tall campanile with five bells is attached to the north east side. The interior is very graceful and well-proportioned. A flat ceiling in perspective closes the apertue of the dome. The ingenious painting, raised in place in 1739, is one of the Cathedral's major attractions and is so convincing that many visitors have to be persuaded that it is not, indeed, a real dome. The other attraction is that statue of Santa Marija, the Assumption, undertaken in Rome in 1897. The statue of the Madonna was embellished witha diamond necklace, a gold belt and a solid silver plinth donated by Gozitans who emigrated to the New World and made good. On 15th August, it is taken shoulder-high in a procession around the streets around the streets of Victoria.

Fontana, suburb of Victoria, means "spring" and took its ame from a bountiful spring at the bottom of the road leading to Xlendi. People began to inhabit the area because of this useful fresh water spring. In the 16th century, an arched shelter was built over the spring for the convenience of the people, since people flocked there to wash their clothes, as some still do to this day. Most Xlendi fishermen lived in Fontana and in the late 19th century the proceeds from their catches were used to raise a parish church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Għajnsielem just off Mġarr harbour simply means "Salem's Spring". The monument in the square in the very centre of the village honours Anglu Grech, a farmer who lived in the vicinity and who, according to tradition, had a vision from the Blessed Virgin Mary requesting him to build a church, which was duly built in 1820 and dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto. Clearly visible from the Gozo ferry as it enters the port, is the church of Our Lady of Lourdes perched above Mgarr harbour. From the parvis there are excellent views of the channel.

In 1749 to make the harbour and the channel safer, the Knights commenced the construction of Citta' Vilhena, which however became known as Fort Chambray, after Jacques Francois Chambray, Lieutenant General of the Ships and Governor of Gozo, who bequeathed most of his property for its building. Its impressive gunpowder magazine and the watch-tower as well as most of the fortifications stand to this day.

On the corner of the Għajnsielem - Victoria road, just in front of the road leading to the Heliport, there is Santa Cecilja Tower, built in the 17th century to ease communications between coastal towers. Next to it there is the derelict chapel in Gozo. Also on this road one comes across the Gozo Heritage, a historical re-creation of the momentous episodes of seven thousand years of Gozo life, from pre-history down to recent times.

Għarb meaning "west" is the westernmost village in Gozo. On the road from Victoria to Għarb there is an aqueduct built by the British in the early 1840s to carry water from Għar Ilma to Rabat. Further on in the same direction, one can still see an old fortified country house raised in the 1600s and parallel to this on the other side of the road, there is an old windmill known as the tal-Qasam, "of the agricultural estate".

Just before you approach the village a road forks right to the national Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu. The monumental shrine was built between 1920 and 1931. Worth a climb is Ta' Għammar Hill right in front of Ta' Pinu Shrine. A Via Crucis or Way of the Cross made up of fourteen marble statuary groups line the way to the top. There are two small museums related to the Shrine. The first houses the Karmni Grima Museum, home of the young country woman who received a message for prayer from the Virgin Mary in the venerated tiny chapel attached to the Shrine. In the village square of Għarb one can also find another Folklore Museum.

The parish church of Għarb is one of the most architecturally perfect churches of Gozo and is designed on Francesco Borromini's Sant' Agnese in Agone at Piazza Navona in Rome. It was dedicated in 1729 to the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth and beautiful sculptures are to be found both on the exterior and interior.

Għarb is a place of intense natural beauty, especially in the area around the ancient chapel of the bishop-martyr San Dimitri. The story goes that after an old woman beseeched the saint to save her only son from slavery, San Dimitri left the altarpiece on his flying stallion and soon brought back her son Mattew. The altarpiece can still be seen in the chapel.

Għasri is the smallest village in Gozo its name is possibly derived from an Arabic family name. This small village reached by forking right on the Rabat-Għarb road, is dominated by a lighthouse on Ġordan Hill. Ġordan lighthouse, rising 180 metres above sea level was inaugurated in 1853. Its beam can be seen up to 50 kilometres away. Marvellous views can be enjoyed from its upper terrace.

Għasri's village church was built early in the twentieth century and is dedicated to Christ the Saviour. Other chapels in Għasri are St. Publius Chapel and on the road to Wied il-Għasri , the rural chapel dedicated to the Patronage of Our Lady.

From the village square, a road leads to Wied il-Għasri, at the mouth of which there is a quiet tiny beach wedged between the cliffs. The coast from Wied il-Għasri goes on to Marsalforn.

Kerċem is the village closest to Rabat and its name is probably derived from that of family living in the area in the 15th century. The Rabat-Kerċem road passes through the upper part of Lunzjata Valley. This fertile valley is one of the most picturesque in Gozo. It is further embellished by a charming spring dating back to 1698. The Knights of St. John were so taken by this spot that they favoured it for their hunting. Just at the point where the road forks on the left to the valley, there is Għar Gerduf, the site of 3rd/4th century Christian catacombs. Once, some four chapels were clustered together in this spot and excavations in the vicinity revealed that there might also have been a group of Roman baths.

A traditional procession used to wend its way from the Cathedral in the Citadel to the parish church of Kerċem, on 12 March, the feast of Pope Gregory the Great, to whom the parish is dedicated, together with the Virgin Mary of Perpetual Soccour. Before marriage, Gozitan bridegrooms used to promise their brides to take them to this procession every year.