Stephen Cini, the Assistant Director at Gozo’s Cultural Heritage Directorate tells Euronews about the stunning Citadella, its award-winning restoration project, and his hopes for the future.
The Mediterranean island of Gozo is home to the stunning and recently renovated Citadella. Inhabited since the Bronze Age, by the Romans and Phoenicians, among others, the site had been abandoned for many years.
But with the help of an EU-funded restoration project, Gozitans can once again take pride in this historic bastion which attracts just under one million tourists a year.
Stephen Cini, the Assistant Director at Gozo’s Cultural Heritage Directorate told Euronews more about this monument, its award-winning restoration, and his hopes for the future.
"The Citadel is a fortified city, or had the function of a fortified city, which eventually was abandoned but archaeological evidence shows that, since the Bronze Age period, we had some kind of activity going on within the Citadel and we have found silo pits, which go back to 1500 BC.
"We are proud that throughout the last six years, we have managed to keep the Citadel in [a] very good condition. We were being awarded or acknowledged by the European Commission, with the RegioStars awards for doing the best project in the last 15 years and that makes us so proud.
"But even we say this very humbly because we know that there are so many other challenges that we have to fulfil. And our dream would be [that] one day, we would see our Cittadella on the UNESCO heritage list.
"We are on the tentative list, but we are sure that with the efforts we are doing with the investment we did thanks to local and European funds, we are on the right path."