Discover Malta

Thematic guides for travellers who want to understand what they are looking at. The Knights and the Great Siege, the Megalithic temples older than the Pyramids, the village festas that still shape the Maltese calendar.

History

2 guides in this theme

The Auberge de Castille in Valletta, the Knights' Spanish-Portuguese-Aragonese lodging, baroque facade lit at sunset

The Knights of St John: how an order of crusaders built modern Malta

From a Jerusalem hospital to a Mediterranean military order. Two centuries on Malta, the 1565 Great Siege, the construction of Valletta, and what they left behind.

The Mnajdra temple complex at dawn, the upright limestone slabs catching first light against the Mediterranean

Megalithic Malta: older than the Pyramids, and what we still do not know

Six UNESCO temple sites built between 3800 and 2500 BC. The Hypogeum carved into the limestone. What the archaeology actually says about a civilisation we still cannot fully read.

Food & wine

1 guide in this theme

A plate of fenek bil-birra (rabbit stew with beer) at a traditional Maltese kitchen, with sourdough bread on the side

Maltese cuisine: beyond pastizzi

Ftira, fenek bil-birra, lampuki pie, bigilla. The Sicilian-North African-British layers, and what to eat where on a serious food trip.

People

1 guide in this theme

A bilingual street sign in Valletta showing the Maltese name above the English translation

Maltese: the only Semitic language in the European Union

An Arabic-rooted language with Italian and English layered on top, written in Latin script. A short history of how Maltese became the linguistic anomaly of the EU.

Culture

2 guides in this theme

The vault of St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, with Mattia Preti's painted scenes from the life of John the Baptist

Baroque Malta: Mattia Preti, the Caravaggios, and why this small country has so much

How the Knights of St John turned Valletta into a 17th-century baroque showcase, the Caravaggio years, and where to see it all today.

A Maltese village street with limestone facades and traditional gallarija enclosed wooden balconies in faded green and rust

Maltese limestone architecture: globigerina, gallarija and the village dome rivalry

Why the entire country is built in honey-coloured limestone, the enclosed wooden balconies, the village dome competitions, and how to read the architectural code.

Festivals & folklore

1 guide in this theme

Painted luzzu fishing boats moored in Marsaxlokk harbour at sunrise, with the carved eyes on the prows visible

The luzzu fishing boats: painted Phoenician eyes and a working fleet

The painted Maltese fishing boats with the carved eyes on the prow. A Phoenician inheritance, the modern Marsaxlokk fleet, and what they actually catch.