Żejtun

Also known as Zejtun

Żejtun ( ) is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at the end of 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim in 1797. Before that, the village was known as Casale Santa Caterina, named after its patron saint and parish titular.

Weather now

cached 21h ago

27°clear sky

79% 4.0 m/s OpenWeatherMap

7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: Iż-Żejtun
Region: Iż-Żejtun
Country: Malta
Population: 11,549

via · GeoNames

Travel guide

Understand

thumb|City centre Żejtun is considered to be the hub of Maltese folk singing, l-għana, and the city has given Malta many of its most respected folk singers.

See

thumb|Villa Cagliares Żejtun has a number of important religious heritage sites, such as St Catherine's Parish Church, St Catherine's Old Church – known as St Gregory's, and numerous votive chapels. The parish of Żejtun is one of the oldest on the islands and already existed in 1436. The original parish church was built in the 12th century, and rebuilt in 1492.

thumb|Żejtun Roman villa

Do

Each September, Żejtun hosts an annual festival celebrating the olive picking season and olive pressing for oil. The aim of the festival is to highlight the intimate link between the city and olive trees, and the promotion of local olive cultivation. The activity starts with a defilé delivering the olive harvest, including the reading of a proclamation, and the blessing of the olives prior to pressing. The Feast of Saint Gregory is held on Easter Wednesday. The procession begins at the Chapel of Saint Clement, which is just over a kilometre away from the church of Saint Gregory. On the way, it enters the current parish-church of Żejtun, then continuing to Saint Gregory's. On arrival, a mass is celebrated by the Cathedral Chapter's dean, with the archbishop presiding the ceremony. Traditionally, after the ceremony those in attendance go to the nearby harbour of Marsaxlokk for their first swim of the year. Traditional food stands and fairs are held throughout the day. The feast of St Catherine of Alexandria is celebrated in summer. On this day Żejtun's two rival musical bands, the Banda Beland and the Żejtun Band, perform in Gregorio Bonnici Square.

Drink

The city is also known for its wine production, with the Marnisi wine producing estate.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~33 min read

Article

22 sections

Contents

Toponymy
Topography
History
Prehistory and antiquity
Medieval Żejtun
Feast of Saint Gregory
Early modern
Late modern and contemporary
Government
Local Council
Education
Culture
Dialect
Religion
Dress
Gastronomy
Twin towns — sister cities
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
External links

The old urban cores, called Bisqallin and Ħal Bisbut, largely retain their narrow medieval streets and ancient boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name Żejtun, or Casale Zeitoun, has referred to the settlement which developed around these two core villages. Together with a number of small hamlets in the vicinity, the bulk of the conurbation forms the city of Żejtun, administered by the Żejtun Local Council. Over successive centuries, Żejtun lost to urbanisation a number of villages and hamlets that used to form part of its territory, which originally covered most of the south eastern part of Malta. The city experienced extensive urbanisation over the 1970s and 1980s, with the completion of numerous infrastructural and urban projects designed to relieve housing pressure in the neighbouring Three Cities area leading to a significant increase of the town's population. The town and its surrounding satellite villages are said to typify the basic Maltese conception of village life.