Gozo Album

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Gozo Album Our mission is to preserve and showcase Gozo's history and beauty through photographs. Dive into the past as we share images that tell the story of our island.

We aim to create a visual archive highlighting Gozo's heritage, milestones, and landscapes.

Quite a peculiar scene captured by Guido Stilon at Ramla Bay in the 1960s, showing a donkey-drawn cart making its way al...
22/10/2026

Quite a peculiar scene captured by Guido Stilon at Ramla Bay in the 1960s, showing a donkey-drawn cart making its way along the beach, with bathers enjoying the sea and several boats anchored in the bay.

Does anyone recognise the people in this photograph?

A photograph by Achilles Attard showing a Malta Air Charter helicopter, a familiar sight over Gozo during the 1990s.On 2...
19/10/2026

A photograph by Achilles Attard showing a Malta Air Charter helicopter, a familiar sight over Gozo during the 1990s.

On 27 June 1990, Malta Air Charter, a subsidiary of Air Malta, introduced a scheduled helicopter service connecting Malta International Airport with the Gozo Heliport in Xewkija.

The aircraft pictured is a Soviet-built Mil Mi-8, one of the helicopters used on the route, each capable of carrying 26 passengers. The journey between the islands took approximately 10 to 15 minutes, offering a particularly fast connection for Gozitans and visitors. During the 1990s, the service was also associated with the name Gozo Wings.

The helicopter service carried between 30,000 and 40,000 passengers annually, reaching a peak of approximately 64,000 passengers in 1994.

Malta Air Charter continued operating until 31 October 2004, when declining passenger numbers and changes in aviation requirements brought its operations to an end.

A beautiful scene in the streets behind St George’s Basilica in Victoria, as captured by Guido Stilon in the 1960s.There...
17/10/2026

A beautiful scene in the streets behind St George’s Basilica in Victoria, as captured by Guido Stilon in the 1960s.

There was a time when scenes like this were a common sight in the streets of Gozo. Neighbours would bring their chairs outside and sit together, particularly during the evenings of warmer months. It was a chance to enjoy the cooler evening air, catch up on the day’s events and exchange village news.

These gatherings were also tied to religious life. Neighbours would sometimes come together outside their homes to recite the rosary, remaining there afterwards to talk about their families, what they had cooked that day and the everyday happenings of the neighbourhood.

The doorstep was much more than the entrance to the home. It was also an important part of neighbourhood life, where people met regularly and kept close contact with those living around them.

Do you remember evenings spent sitting outside with your neighbours? Was this still a common sight in your street or village when you were growing up?

Kite flying at Ramla Bay in the 1960s, with a group of children enjoying a pastime that once provided hours of fun with ...
14/10/2026

Kite flying at Ramla Bay in the 1960s, with a group of children enjoying a pastime that once provided hours of fun with little more than a kite and a good breeze.

This weekend, kites will once again fill Gozo’s skies during the Kite & Wind Festival in Għarb 🪁

Now an annual event, the festival has grown in popularity over the years, drawing many people to the beautiful countryside around San Dimitri Chapel to enjoy colourful kite displays from local and international participants.

📍 More info about this weekend's event: eventsingozo.com/series/kite-and-wind-festival/

A general view of Marsalforn Bay, captured by Giuseppe Fenech around 1953, with a traditional wooden cart (karrettun) in...
12/10/2026

A general view of Marsalforn Bay, captured by Giuseppe Fenech around 1953, with a traditional wooden cart (karrettun) in the foreground.

For generations, carts like this were a familiar part of everyday life in Gozo. Usually drawn by a horse, mule or donkey, the karrettun was primarily a working vehicle used to transport agricultural produce, fodder, tools and other goods between fields and villages.

The large wooden wheels were themselves the work of skilled craftsmen. Different sizes were required depending on the animal pulling the cart and the purpose for which it was used. Before the 20th century, wooden cart wheels used in Gozo were generally brought over from Malta, but there is evidence that by the early 20th century, Gozitan carpenters were producing cart wheels locally.

Beyond the cart, the photograph also captures a very different Marsalforn, with relatively little development around the bay and terraced fields covering much of the surrounding hillsides.

By the time this photograph was taken, motorised transport was becoming increasingly common, but the karrettun was still very much part of the Gozitan landscape and its agricultural way of life.

A goat herd, being taken out to graze, on the road leading down to Xlendi from Fontana, as captured by Guido Stilon in t...
10/10/2026

A goat herd, being taken out to graze, on the road leading down to Xlendi from Fontana, as captured by Guido Stilon in the 1960s.

Scenes like this were once a familiar part of everyday life in Gozo. Goats were an important source of milk, and for generations goatherds would take their animals through the streets, sometimes milking them directly outside customers’ homes to provide families with fresh milk.

This practice eventually became a public health concern after raw goat’s milk was linked to brucellosis, historically known as Malta or undulant fever. A national milk pasteurisation plant opened in 1938, and restrictions on the sale of raw milk were gradually extended until its sale was completely prohibited in 1957.

Fifty years ago today, on 9 October 1976, the Aurora Opera House in Victoria was officially inaugurated.These photograph...
09/10/2026

Fifty years ago today, on 9 October 1976, the Aurora Opera House in Victoria was officially inaugurated.

These photographs take us back to the construction of the theatre between 1971 and 1976, as well as the inauguration ceremony that marked the beginning of an important chapter in Gozo’s cultural history.

Built by the Leone Philharmonic Society, the new theatre was designed to accommodate around 1,600 spectators. Its artistic design and decoration were entrusted to Emvin Cremona (1919–1987), one of Malta’s most prominent artists of the 20th century, whose contributions to Maltese art included painting, religious works and major decorative projects. His work at the Aurora included some 60 original hand-painted works and a distinctive ceiling design inspired by traditional Gozitan lace.

The theatre was inaugurated with a symphonic concert by the Leone Band, conducted by Mro Joseph Sammut. Just three months later, on 7 and 8 January 1977, the Aurora made history by staging Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the first opera ever performed in Gozo.

October has become synonymous with opera on the island, with three opera nights taking place this month, alongside several other cultural events. This year, the Aurora Opera Theatre celebrates its golden jubilee with a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata on 17 October.

A photograph by Guido Stilon taken within the Cittadella in Victoria in 1963.An interesting moment captured through one ...
06/10/2026

A photograph by Guido Stilon taken within the Cittadella in Victoria in 1963.

An interesting moment captured through one of the Cittadella’s old archways, with another photographer taking a photo of her friend. In the background, an elderly man can be seen making his way up the steps, perhaps heading towards the Cathedral for daily Mass.

We do not know who the people pictured here are. Do you recognise any of them, or perhaps know more about the story behind this photograph?

Courtesy of Grace Cilia Vincenti & National Archives of Malta.

Taken around a century ago, this photograph by Michele Farrugia shows Gozo’s Law Courts before the excavation works that...
30/09/2026

Taken around a century ago, this photograph by Michele Farrugia shows Gozo’s Law Courts before the excavation works that transformed Cathedral Square into how we know it today.

A proud day for Victoria, and for Gozo 🇲🇹 We rejoice at today’s news that Victoria has been selected as European Capital...
23/09/2026

A proud day for Victoria, and for Gozo 🇲🇹

We rejoice at today’s news that Victoria has been selected as European Capital of Culture 2031, becoming the second Maltese city to receive the title following Valletta in 2018.

Congratulations to everyone who worked towards making Victoria 2031 a reality.

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