The church is taken care of by the Missionary Society of St. Paul of Rabat.
Malta is an island full of many little quaint and charming churches all across its land, but have you ever visited this small Mgarr Church that is 339 years old?
The church, dedicated to Our Lady of Itria was originally built in 1685 by Giov. Maria Xara only a few steps away from another church that was demolished in 1658. In fact, the same stones were used to build the new one.
This little church’s emblem is that of a coat of arms with three trees which honours Baron Stansislaw Xara. He was the man who built the first built the original church.
Nowadays, the church is taken care of by the Missionary Society of St. Paul of Rabat. They still hold regular mass and services.
It even has a titular painting by Stefano Eradi. However, the one in the church is a copy since the original one was taken to the Wignacourt museum in Rabat.
But right underneath the church, there’s an underground city that still confuses historians and remains shrouded in mystery to this very day.
The underground city which is full of caves is located between the Our Lady of Itria church and the Victoria Lines in the Binġemma valley.
It’s still unknown how truly old this mysterious underground area is but it’s definitely much older than the church that was built on it.
There are some that say that underground city dates as far back as the Bronze Age!
The area is also home to a number of Punic tombs that were discovered by chance by farmers working the land.