Month: <span>December 2018</span>

The feast has a long history and was very popular when the island was more populated and then discontinued for over 40 years ago but reintroduced in 2015 and proved an immense success. The feast is very closely associated with the history of the Chapel. The 2016 feast held on 19th/20th August was an even greater success and attracted a large number of people.

Visit Comino and the Lovely “Blue Lagoon” by our Ferries. Departing Every hour from Mgarr Harbour, Gozo, we head to the Blue Lagoon
where you can swim in the crystal clear water, excellent for snorkling, or go for a walk around the island. Also rent boats for private charters (around the Maltese Islands), from small cabin boats to motorboats. We can spend a few hours on one of our (private) boats to relax and have fun while visiting the island of Comino.

Bearing in mind the richness of archaeological treasures in Malta and Gozo, very little archaeological research has been carried out on Comino though an amphora containing an adult skeleton and anointing oils was discovered in 1912 in Santa Marija Bay and possibly dates to around 200 AD. It consisted of two sliced halves of a Roman amphora. These artefacts are now housed in the Gozo Archaeology Museum in Rabat (Victoria). Clearly more research and field work could reveal more archaeological features of this fascinating island.

Built in 1979 and returned to the government in 2011 the pig farm used to be a commercial enterprise to research and engage in selective breeding after epidemics of swine fever and foot and mouth disease but it is now closed

A small cemetery is located towards the centre of the island. It is a walled enclosure with a small gate secured with a padlock. For the past few decades no more burials have been made in Comino. During WW2 bodies of Italian and German service personnel were buried in the cemetery but these have since been repatriated to their home countries.

Built in 1852 overlooking the Blue Lagoon at a cost of 456 scudi (equivalent to approximately 46 Euros). The Comino police service like other stations across the islands was looking for smuggling and contraband activities and other illegal acts such as evasion of quarantine regulations during outbreaks of cholera, plague and typhoid. The cost of policing the island in 1897 was 14,447 Euros roughly one third of the total expenditure then made by the Maltese government on security. During World War 2 the police station was used as an observation post

The main type of natural habitat on the island is known as garigue. Garigue is found across the Maltese islands and is present where Upper and Lower Coralline limestone deposits exist. The rocky pocked surfaces are filled with soil (the typical terra rossa – which shows its deep red colour when it rains) that allows a multitude of wild flowers, herbs and shrubs to propagate. The trees and shrubs are usually evergreen and typical of warm and dry climates as found in the Mediterranean terrain.

Comino has the only undamaged tracts of cliff-side habitat in the Maltese islands and is inhabited by a number of ‘endemic’ animal and plant species – endemic species are those confined to small areas.