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Comino, the third largest island of the Maltese archipelago situated between Malta and Gozo, is a paradise for snorkelers, divers, windsurfers and ramblers. Named after the cumin seed that once flourished in the Maltese islands, it forms part of the municipality of Għajnsielem in southeastern Gozo, and is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve.
In the past many frequented Comino to hunt wild hares, and to collect salt from dried-up rock-pools. Two hermits who lived there were said to have preceded the eventual small community on Comino, which eventually became significant enough to warrant its own medieval chapel.
In a population census of 1881, it was recorded that 20 males and 13 females lived here. Ten years later the total population went up from 33 to 43, of which 17 were children under 5 years and a whole village developed with its own bakery and a basic shop. At one point the population topped 80 but now the last family has now dwindled down to three elderly persons – siblings who survive on the island thanks to the weekly visits of a priest from Gozo who brings their mail, groceries and other needs – in a nutshell seeing to their physical as well as spiritual requirements.
Only 3.5 square kilometers, Comino is car-free and apart from one hotel, is virtually uninhabited.
The island’s main attraction is the Blue Lagoon. In summer, this sheltered inlet of shimmering aquamarine water over white sand is very popular with day-trippers. Other beaches on the island include Santa Marija Bay and San Niklaw Bay.
Comino is also worth a visit in winter, and is ideal for walkers and photographers. With no urban areas or cars on the island, one can easily smell the scent of wild thyme and other herbs.
Comino is known to have been inhabited by farmers during Roman times, but for long periods in its history it has been sparsely populated by privately owned, or abandoned entirely, but did not have much significance until the Knights arrived. It then had a dual role: hunting grounds and a staging post in the defence of the Maltese Islands against the Ottoman Turks.
The island had proved a useful base for pirates operating in the central Mediterranean and, though stark and barren today, the limestone cliffs and deep caves that characterise its coastline were ideal hide-outs for pirates and marauders in the Middle Ages. The caves and coves of Comino were frequently used as staging posts for raids on hapless boats crossing between Malta and Gozo.
From 1285 until after 1290, Comino was the home of exiled Jewish Prophet and Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia. It was on Comino that Abulafia composed his “Sefer ha-Ot” (The Book of the Sign), and his last work, “ImreShefer” (Words of Beauty).
When the Knights arrived in 1530, the Knights of Malta used Comino as a hunting and recreational ground; The Knights were fiercely protective of the local game, which consisted of wild boar and hares (Maltese: fenek tal-grixti). The Grandmasters went to great lengths to ensure that their game on Comino was protected: anyone found hunting illegally could expect to serve three years rowing on a galley.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant knights. Knights who were convicted of minor crimes were occasionally sentenced to the lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary’s Tower.
The Santa Marija Tower on Comino formed part of the early system of towers which the Order set up to facilitate defence and communication between the Ċittadella in Gozo and Mdina. It later became a key location of the system of towers built along the coast. The decision to build this Tower was taken by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt in 1618, and was financed by the Grand Master himself, by the sale of the brushwood on the island and from the profits made by the resettled farmers. The site chosen was some eighty metres above sea level and it was the most expensive of the Knights’ towers since all building materials had to be ferried over to Comino.
The design of the Tower was square in plan with four corner turrets. The bulk of the Tower is twelve metres high and stands on a plinth some eight metres high. A three metre wide strip was laid along the top surface of the plinth to enable the defenders to move easily to any endangered point. The walls of the Tower are about six metres thick and the four corner turrets are extended perpendicularly and crowned with a battlement top.
After WWII, Comino remained a backwater until its fortunes revived with tourism in the mid-1960s.
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