The Silent City — Malta's medieval walled capital, the Cathedral of St Paul, imqaret pastries, and empty stone streets after the day-trippers leave
Mdina (from the Arabic Medina — the city) is Malta's medieval walled capital, set on a hilltop in the centre of the island with views across the whole of Malta and across to Sicily on clear days. The city's permanent population is approximately 300 — descendants of Maltese noble families who have owned the same palazzi within the walls for centuries — and the narrow streets (designed to slow cavalry charges) are genuinely car-free. The Cathedral of St Paul (1693, rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed the earlier Norman church) contains a famous Mattia Preti ceiling fresco, the crypt of St Pau…
Mdina was Malta's capital for most of its history — from the Bronze Age settlement, through the Phoenician, Roman, and Arab periods (870–1090 CE, when the fortifications were rebuilt and the city renamed Medina). The Normans took Malta in 1090 and the city became the seat of the Norman administration. The Knights of St John, arriving in 1530, transferred the capital to their new fortified city of Valletta after 1566, reducing Mdina to a secondary role. The Maltese noble families who remained in their Mdina palazzi governed the city as a semi-autonomous enclave through successive foreign rules…