Xewkija, the stonemasons' village that built Gozo's great dome

Xewkija is the first village you notice when you arrive on Gozo. Its dome rises above the fields as the road climbs away from the harbour, and plenty of people take the photo and carry on to Victoria. I think that’s a mistake, because there’s a good deal more here than the skyline.

Halfway between the ferry and the capital

The village sits on the south-eastern plateau, roughly halfway between Mġarr harbour and Victoria. The NSO counted 3,790 residents at the end of 2025, 735 of them foreign nationals. According to the Ministry for Gozo, no village on the island has been lived in for longer, and it backs that up with two facts. Megalithic ruins turned up here in 1647, and on 27 November 1678 Xewkija became the first parish on Gozo outside Victoria, and the first place with official village status.

The name comes from Arabic and describes thorny wasteland, which is hard to picture now. Today it ranks among the bigger villages on Gozo, and on its edges you’ll find the Gozo campus of the University of Malta, the island’s football stadium and its industrial estate.

The Rotunda, the reason most people stop

The Xewkija Rotunda, dedicated to St John the Baptist, is Gozo’s largest church. Villagers built it between the 1950s and the 1970s around the old parish church, which stayed in use throughout. The dome reaches 75 metres, and inside there’s a Sculpture Museum where the stones of the earlier church were numbered and put back together.

It has its own page, so I won’t retell the story here. The one thing I’d underline is that Xewkija is a village of stonemasons, and local families carved the Rotunda. Wander the back streets and you’ll see that craft on ordinary house fronts, and with luck a workshop open near the windmill.

An eight-sided windmill and two very old chapels

As you come in on the Mġarr road you pass the windmill from the time of Grand Master Perellos, who led the Order from 1697 to 1720. The Ministry for Gozo says it’s unique on the island because the ground floor is octagonal, one face for each of the eight principal winds. It’s been restored, takes visitors and still has its bread oven. Neither opening hours nor a price are published, so I’d call in briefly if you happen to find the door open.

Where the Qala and Mġarr roads cross stands the chapel of Madonna tal-Ħniena, also dedicated to St Bartholomew. The historian Achille Ferres placed a church on this spot in 1397, and the present one was rebuilt in 1643. On the village edge you’ll also find the tower and chapel of St Cecilia, which the Ministry reckons is the oldest chapel on Gozo.

What else is there to do in Xewkija?

The other big draw is down on the coast. A road leaves the village for the valley and Mġarr ix-Xini, the cove with a Knights’ tower guarding its entrance. It’s steep and single-track in places, so I’d walk it if I had the time. The valley, which separates Xewkija from Sannat, is good walking country and, in winter and spring, a spot for abseiling.

In the village itself, my favourite place is the square, with its band clubs, cafés and the odd old-fashioned bakery tucked away in the side streets. The Ministry even mentions a grocer’s that still has its vintage sign. It’s a good place to see how a Gozitan village ticks over at lunchtime, without the bustle of Victoria.

The giant umbrella, and where to stay

The feast of St John the Baptist is held on the Sunday nearest 24 June, which in 2026 was the 21st. According to the Ministry, a giant umbrella is hung over the street so that young people can dance to the band marches out of the sun. It’s one of the first festas of the Gozitan summer.

As a base, Xewkija puts you close to the ferry and the capital without the noise of either. The MTA register lists a single hotel in the village, and the Ministry counts it among the villages with small hotels near the square, but most of what’s on offer is houses and flats. If you’re coming over on a late Gozo ferry, it makes a very sensible first night.