You hear it in the pjazzas, you hear it in the streets. It’s on everybody’s lips. The Ċittadella has been restored. Years of neglect, and years of major work have now restored pride in Gozo’s ancient fortified city. The Ċittadella has risen from the ashes of neglect and pilfering. It has a new lease of life that we are proud to have restored.

The restoration work involved the daunting task of studying, analysing, measuring and calculating the repercussions of each and every action in such a sensitive environment. It involved the painstaking task of working manually – slowly, sensibly and meticulously. Each and every new discovery was greeted with mixed feelings: it meant a new interpretation of the site and a richer legacy, but it also meant more and more delays in the work. Delays aside, the revived Ċittadella is today the pride of every Gozitan, and the more we come to understand it, the prouder we should be of it. Indeed, the period of studying what has been found and, perhaps, revisiting the site to begin small and detailed analysis of specific areas is yet to start.

The tangible part of the Ċittadella was indeed given a very welcome facelift, which is there for everyone to see and enjoy. It was well and truly celebrated last Thursday, when the Prime Minister officially inaugurated the project to implement the recommendations of the Ċittadella Master plan ERDF246. It was a very special moment for each and every Gozitan with a sense of civic pride, and particularly for every member of the team led by the Ministry for Gozo who saw it through to completion.

But now we come to the intangible part of the Ċittadella, ie the meaning we attach to the site: what the Ċittadella has meant for Gozo’s inhabitants over the centuries and what it signifies to contemporary Gozitans is as important and fascinating as its actual architecture.

Restoring the Ċittadella, and restoring its pride, has meant restoring life in it. This may be achieved by several means and we need to be careful and watchful so that the intangible does not compromise the tangible, and vice-versa. In the very immediate future, life is planned to be restored in Gozo’s Ċittadella with #ĊittadellaGozo – an inaugural season of creative, performing and visual arts in the Ċittadella from July until September. The season that has been announced is – indeed as intended – not exhaustive. It is a starter: a starter programme – that will attract audiences and rekindle general interest. First on the list is Swar u Ħajja (an open night on 9 July). But it is a starter programme that exploits and demonstrates the great potential of the Ċittadella as a historic venue and performing space.

#ĊittadellaGozo, as it has initially been launched, allows space and time for more artistes, more participants and more stakeholders to join in and jump on this bandwagon. The creative industry, much like the historic aficionados and the local community itself, is invited to share ownership of this beloved masterpiece.

The inaugural season, in itself, is intended to leave its mark and a legacy. Budgets are not being simply and only allocated for events that have an expiry date. Rather, a substantial part of the financial allocation for the inaugural season is being dedicated to promotion, publicity and an enhanced visitor’s experience. The extraordinary and revolutionary efforts begun with the state-of-the-art visitors’ centre created within the 19th century reservoir will be further complemented by the ĊittadellaApp – a smartphone application aimed at offering a simple and effective audio and pictorial guide around no fewer than 60 major attractions within the Ċittadella. Available as a free, downloadable app, it includes bilingual information about sites, monuments, locations and venues as well as a 360º, 3D promotional video that will attract both local and international audiences. Once it has been made clear that we care about the Ċittadella, we can move on to our next affirmation: we care about the Ċittadella’s visitors.

Then, as the #ĊittadellaGozo season draws to an end in September, our efforts to continue to breathe life into the Ċittadella must continue. This is the only way that we will avoid – in another 30 years or so – the need for another major renovation project. Continuous efforts by the community of faith and the miniscule commercial and touristic industries that co-exist are commendable. After all, they have been the lifeline of the Ċittadella for so many years.

The Ministry for Gozo pledges to sustain and add to these so that the Ċittadella continues to flourish and contribute towards the wellbeing of Gozitan society – whether as its historical showcase, a place of entertainment or leisure, or a major touristic attraction.

In this sense, we have quite holistically restored the Ċittadella and have not merely replaced the old stones with new ones. 30 June is another special date in the annals of the Ċittadella, commemorating the fact that, with the hard work and dedication of none other than its own people, its pride was duly restored.

Dr Anton Refalo is Minister for Gozo