Cittadella, Gozo

The Cittadella (Maltese: Iċ-Ċittadella), also known as the Castello (Maltese: Il-Kastell), is the citadel of Victoria on the island of Gozo, Malta. The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, and the site now occupied by the Cittadella is believed to have been the acropolis of the Punic-Roman city of Gaulos or Glauconis Civitas.

During the medieval period, the acropolis was converted into a castle which served as a refuge for Gozo's population. A suburb began to develop outside its walls by the 15th century, and this area now forms the historic core of Victoria. The castle's defences were obsolete by the 16th century, and in 1551 an Ottoman force invaded Gozo and sacked the Cittadella.

A major reconstruction of the southern walls of the Cittadella was undertaken between 1599 and 1622, transforming it into a gunpowder fortress. The northern walls were left intact, and today they still retain a largely medieval form. The new fortifications were criticized in later decades, and plans to demolish the entire citadel were made multiple times in the 17th and 18th centuries, but were never carried out.

Text adapted from “Cittadella (Gozo)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cittadella, Gozo ranks #381 of 3,734 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 13 mapped in Malta. Founded 1500, it is older than 48% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 193 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. See how Malta compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗