Xagħra, the plateau village that holds Gozo's temples

Xagħra packs more history into a small space than any other village on Gozo, and I mean what’s underground as much as what’s on the surface. There are temples over five thousand years old, a Neolithic burial site, two caves hidden under people’s houses and a windmill from the Knights’ era, all within a few streets of the square.

A village on the plateau, north-east of Victoria

Xagħra sits on a long plateau north-east of the capital, framed by the bays of Ramla, Għajn Barrani and Marsalforn and by farming valleys. The Ministry for Gozo describes the land as some of the best on the island, which explains why people settled here so early. It has 5,386 residents according to Malta’s statistics office, nearly one in five of them foreign nationals, which makes it Gozo’s second-largest locality after Victoria.

The square is dominated by the Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lady. Its foundation stone was laid in 1815, it was consecrated in 1878 and became a basilica in 1967. Inside is Il-Bambina, a marble statue of the young Virgin brought from Marseilles in 1878. The first parish church, from 1688, was the medieval chapel of St Anthony the Abbot, which still stands in the village.

Ġgantija and Ta’ Kola Windmill

The Ġgantija temples are why almost everyone comes to Xagħra, and rightly so. They’re two Neolithic structures within a single wall, part of the megalithic temples of Malta that UNESCO inscribed in 1980. You enter through an interpretation centre displaying finds from other Gozo sites, and the visit takes about an hour.

The same €10 ticket covers Ta’ Kola Windmill, a few streets away. Heritage Malta explains that the village’s first mill, from 1725, was so badly built it had to be taken down, and that the current one dates from 1787. The wooden mechanism and millstones are the originals, restored in 2016, and upstairs the miller’s family home has been recreated. For me it’s the ideal companion to Ġgantija, since it shows how people lived in the same village three centuries later.

What lies underground

Some 400 metres south-west of Ġgantija is the Xagħra Circle, a Neolithic burial site in natural caves, excavated between 1987 and 1994. It yielded figurines that Heritage Malta ranks among the finest artistic works of European prehistory. The ground is uneven, visits are in groups of up to ten and children under eight wait at the entrance.

Then come the curiosities. Under two private houses on residential streets are Xerri’s Grotto and Ninu’s Cave, full of stalactites and stalagmites formed by water seeping through the limestone. And on the edge of the village, looking over Ramla, is Calypso’s Cave, traditionally held to be the nymph’s home in the Odyssey, and these days more lookout than cave.

More stones with a legend

Heritage Malta has two smaller sites in Xagħra that round off a wander. Ta’ Għejżu Cave was discovered in 1933, and the Sansuna stone is a slab of about four metres that may be a Bronze Age dolmen, tied, like Ġgantija, to the legend of a giantess. I wouldn’t squeeze them into a rushed day, but if you’re staying in the village they’re a good excuse for a walk on the outskirts.

Toys, Edward Lear and the square

The Pomskizillious Museum of Toys is a private collection of antique toys that Susan and Edwin Lowe began in the 1970s. The name comes from a word Edward Lear coined on his 1866 visit to describe Gozo’s coastline. I wouldn’t cross the island for it, but with children or a taste for something different, it slots in nicely between the temples and lunch in the square.

Ramla, the feast and when to go

From Xagħra you head down to Ramla Bay, the red-sand beach on the north coast, and the Ministry for Gozo’s walking route from Marsalforn passes through the village, the windmill and the temples before reaching the sand.

The big feast is on 8 September, the Nativity of Our Lady, known here as Il-Bambina. It’s also Il-Vittorja, commemorating victory in the Great Siege of 1565 and a national holiday across Malta. According to the Ministry for Gozo it draws big crowds and brings the island’s festa season to a close. Given the choice, I’d visit Xagħra early in the morning on any ordinary day, and on that particular day, in the evening.