A Roam 'Round Rabat

Situated on the outskirts of honey hued Mdina, the village of Rabat is too often seen as the plain Jane bridesmaid to the former Maltese capital’s dazzling, ball-gowned bride. But there’s more than meets the eye to this rural parish.

From the ziggurat stairway of Telgħa tas-Saqajja through to the quaint village core lie folksy cafés, chic eateries, downbeat snack bars, and traditional town houses with their doors and gallariji of many colours.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll unearth more hidden gems still. That’s because Rabat together with the site of present-day Mdina formed part of an ancient fallen city. The hilly high grounds here always offered great natural defences and were home to a Bronze Age settlement, a Phoenician colony called Maleth, before eventually evolving into the city of Melite under Roman rule in 218 BC. Little is left of Melite, which was conquered and destroyed by an Arab-Tunisian dynasty known as the Aghlabids, but what remains is buried underneath Rabat.

TEA & BISCUITS IN THE PIAZZA

Get to the heart of Rabat’s village charms by starting your daytrip from its piazza, centred around the Collegiate Church of St Paul’s. Here lingers something of Malta’s days of old. As the church bells ring out on an everyday morning, you’re likely to spot gaggles of grey-haired biddies exchanging neighbourly gossip in the churchyard, while the gents gather in the arcade bars to read the papers and argue football and politics over té fit-tazza—black tea stirred with condensed milk that’s served in an ordinary drinking glass.

Keep things traditional with a whole range of fresh biscuits and confections from one of the island’s finest bakeries, Paruċċan — easily spotted thanks to its distinctive shop sign brandishing two red Maltese crosses. The baker himself is always happy to guide you on all the unusual looking treats on display. Take your pick from ottijiet (8-shaped sesame seed biscuits), qagħaq tal-għasel (honey rings), nutty nougat, and many other biscuits spiced with all manner of homespun ingredients, ranging from orange zest and marzipan to molasses, dates, and cloves.

SECRETS FROM THE UNDERGROUND

To gain access to Rabat’s fascinating subterranean world you don’t need to wander far from the piazza. Just behind the parish church, on College Street, is Wignacourt Museum. Aside from housing a fusty collection of religious icons, vestments and paintings, this glorious 18th-century Baroque building leads down to labyrinthine rock-cut catacombs, WWII air-raid shelters and St Paul’s Grotto.

The story goes that after St Paul was shipwrecked in Malta, on his way to be tried before Julius Caesar in Rome, he stayed in this very grotto for three months. From here, the apostle preached and spread the word of God to pagan villagers, paving the way for the island’s conversion to Christianity.

While the catacombs are also named after St Paul, there is no direct link between the two aside from their proximity. If you were roll out a map of ancient Melite, you’d notice that the catacombs lie outside the city walls in accordance with Roman law that prohibited burials within the city. The many-styled hypogea and claustrophobic passageways date back to the 3rd century AD and were used for around 500 years.

Deeper underground are the air raid shelters, comprised of some 50 rooms which were dug out with pickaxes during WWII. When the sirens sounded around the village, terrified families would make their way down to their designated room to wait out the Axis bombardments. Families would try make their austere shelters homelier with makeshift doors, tiles and paintings on walls.

VENI, VIDI, VICI PASTIZZI

Further evidence of Rabat’s Roman heritage can be found within the Domvs Romana, or Roman Villa, which is located just outside the village core. The Domus Romana museum is built around the ruins of an aristocratic Roman town house, which was discovered quite by accident in 1881. Subsequent excavations revealed intricate peristyle mosaics, marble statues, terracotta ornaments and other archaeological antiquities dating back to the 1st-century BC, all of which are on display.  

Right around the corner from Domvs Romana is a little bar that has become a local legend over the last half a century. Is-Serkin may not look like much, but this low-key working man’s bar is widely hailed as the best pastizzi vendor on the island. If you’re not already familiar with Malta’s favourite street snack, pastizzi are diamond-shaped, flaky pastry pockets stuffed with piping hot ricotta or mushy peas.

Open 24 hours a day, Is-Serkin welcomes all walks of life through its doors. Fishermen, farmers and hunters at the break of dawn. Local pensioners and flocks of tourists in the afternoon. And clubbers in search of a post-revelry calorie bomb in the small hours. Given such ravenous demand, there’s always a never-ending supply of pastizzi being baked in Is-Serkin’s well-worked ovens. For the full experience, wash down those premier cheesecakes with another round of té fit-tazza, a match made in heaven. 

Once you’ve exhausted all of Rabat’s delights, it’s time for a stroll among the orange trees of Howard Gardens, past a landscaped moat, to reach the grand gate of the Silent City of Mdina where medieval dungeons, aristocratic palazzos and the best chocolate cake on the island await.

This article originally appeared in Il-Bizzilla magazine, January 2020 issue.