About this festa

Vittoriosa, known in Maltese as Birgu, is the oldest of the Three Cities and the original home of the Knights of St John when they arrived in Malta in 1530. The narrow medieval streets, the Fort St Angelo at the tip of the peninsula, and the Maritime Museum tell the story of one of the most significant periods in Maltese and European history. The August festa of St Lawrence is celebrated in streets that have witnessed five centuries of history, with the procession winding through the same lanes the Knights once walked. St Lawrence was the deacon of Rome who famously offered the poor and suffering as the true treasures of the Church when ordered to hand over its wealth, and was subsequently martyred by burning on a gridiron in 258 AD. In Vittoriosa, the feast of St Lawrence carries the weight of the town's extraordinary history: it was in these streets that the Knights of St John lived and governed Malta for two and a half centuries.