Siġġiewi, a country town that runs down to the sea

Siġġiewi is one of those places that remind you Malta isn’t only coastline and bastions. The local council describes it as a town on a plateau in the south west, a few kilometres from Mdina and about 10 from Valletta, that lived off the land for centuries. Today it has 9,868 residents according to the NSO, spread thinly, because at 497 people per square kilometre it’s one of the least crowded areas on the island.

A city named after a Grand Master

The first thing I like about Siġġiewi is its title. On 30 December 1797 Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch raised it to a city under the name Città Ferdinand, at the request of Dun Salvatore Curso. It was one of the Order’s last acts in Malta, because Napoleon arrived the following year. The town motto, Labore et Virtute, work and virtue, suits its farming past.

The village already existed in the 14th century and gradually absorbed nearby hamlets, Ħal Xluq, Ħal Kbir, Ħal Niklusi and Ħal Qdieri, whose chapels survive. Nobody is quite sure where the name comes from. The council gives two theories, a family called Sageyo or a Semitic root meaning prosperous or tranquil.

What to see in Siġġiewi

The centre is the square, and it’s genuinely big, with two chapels and a 1732 stone statue of St Nicholas by Pietro Felici, carved with a Latin prayer for the fields. Overlooking it is the parish church of St Nicholas, built between 1676 and 1693 with the villagers’ money to a design by Lorenzo Gafà, the architect of Mdina Cathedral. Nicola Żammit added the portico and aisles in the later 19th century, and Mattia Preti painted the altarpiece. Visit Malta rates it among the finest baroque parish churches in the islands and says its dome is visible for miles. The restored ruins of the old parish church also survive.

The saint’s wooden statue, also by Felici and dated 1736, is carried in procession on the last Sunday of June. The 2026 date has passed, so if you’d like to catch it, pencil in June 2027.

A parish that runs from plateau to sea

This is what makes Siġġiewi interesting for a visitor. Visit Malta explains that the parish covers a strip of central and western Malta from the Dingli Cliffs to Buskett Gardens and Verdala Palace. BirdLife Malta, which runs nature reserves on the island, places Buskett woodland at Wied il-Luq, within Siġġiewi.

Visit Malta also suggests walking the surrounding countryside and mentions the hamlet of Fawwara, the baroque chapel of Tal-Providenza just outside town, the Clapham Junction cart ruts, the Laferla Cross and the Inquisitors’ summer palace in the Girgenti valley, now the Prime Minister’s summer residence. Down towards the sea there’s the fishing hamlet of Għar Lapsi, a summer bathing spot. In the town itself is the Limestone Heritage Park, set in an old quarry.

Who Siġġiewi is for

The local council’s website places it in the Western Region, and the NSO counts 841 foreign residents, under 9 per cent by my reckoning, a world away from the north coast. So it’s a place to see how an inland Maltese town lives. I’d recommend it to anyone who already knows Valletta and Mdina and fancies a different sort of day, with a first-rate baroque church, countryside around it and a swim on the coast in the afternoon. On a first three-day visit, though, I’d see the essentials before this.

If you’re here in June, it’s worth knowing the festa falls on the last Sunday of the month, according to the council. The 2027 edition will be the next chance to see the 1736 statue carried through the streets.

Getting there and where to stay

From Valletta, the 62 crosses Ħamrun, Qormi and Żebbuġ and ends in Siġġiewi. The official list also has the 209 terminating in the town and a night route, the N62. For Buskett, BirdLife gives routes 52, 56 and 181.

There are no hotels. The MTA register lists two guesthouses and 26 holiday lets, plus five restaurants, two of them with a Għar Lapsi address. I’d do it as a day trip from Valletta, perhaps with a picnic for Buskett, which BirdLife says has parking if you’ve hired a car.