I’m enthralled by the villages of Għasri and San Lawrenz in Gozo. Għasri only has a bunch of 500 inhabitants, and if you discount Comino, it’s officially the least populated village on our islands. San Lawrenz is a close second. There’s maybe, what? 700 people living there now? Probably even fewer.
Unless you have the map of Gozo framed in your living room you’re probably wondering San Lawrenz bħalissa? Where is it?
If you’re nouveau riche, it’s the village close to the Kempinski Hotel, where you often go for weekend breaks. If you’re old money, you’ve probably had a house in Gozo for over 10 generations, so you know the island well. If you are neither, then the world is your oyster and it’s for you to discover.
San Lawrenz is at the very western point of the island, somewhere between Xlendi and Għarb. Dwejra and the late Azure Window fall under the administration of the San Lawrenz council, but you don’t realise that these natural wonders are tied to a little village further up. Or let me rephrase that – I never realised – and only went up to the San Lawrenz village for the first time a couple of years ago.
It’s immensely charming. You can go for a long jog in the countryside and keep jogging right down to the sea; you’ll find old women still working ċombini on their doorstep who’ll chat to you in the village dialect and you won’t have any idea what they’re saying; there’s one restaurant, one grocer, one bar and one mayor.
Subsidised schemes for smaller villages are the way to go
I mention the mayor because he is the most dedicated mayor I’ve ever seen in my entire life. A runner-up would be the mayor of Vittoriosa, but the one of San Lawrenz is in a league of his own. He’s not only the mind of the village – he was the first ever to apply for EU funds for the restoration of the church parvis and piazza – but also the soul of the village. It’s him villagers go to to share their joys and sorrows. He is Peppone, if Peppone were a democrat instead of a communist.
If you go there, the chances are you’ll bump into him, a) because there aren’t many people anyway, and b) because he’s always buzzing around making sure the nest he’s in charge of is immaculate.
Speak to Mayor Noel and he’ll tell you about the history of the San Lawrenz church, built all-hands-on-deck by every villager, including his great-grandfather; and how the first stone was laid in 1886 with the priceless relic of St Lawrence placed under this stone. (A side note here about St Lawrence because I’ve always been fascinated by this saint: he’s the one who was burnt on a grid iron, with hot coals underneath. Legend has it that after a while the martyr cheerfully declared: “Hello? I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!” Ergo, he’s the patron saint of chefs and comedians).
The San Lawrenz mayor would probably tell you how worried he is about some unfinished roadworks and how dangerous they are to commuters, or rejoicing about breaking the island’s record for festa fundraising. Record? Hang on, I had once asked him. How can you collect more money than all the other villages in Gozo if there’s so very few of you? “Ah. We may be few, but we’re better than the others,” he’d quipped.
And that is the problem: the very few of them are getting older. The village school was closed down; the area is slowly turning into an elderly community,and the next stage after that is ghost town.
Last week I read in The Times of Malta that the mayor has appealed to Members of Parliament to address this scary prospect. “For years, we have been seriously concerned with the decreasing population of our locality, but the local council’s suggestions have fallen on deaf ears,” he wrote in a letter to parliamentarians.
Youngsters born in San Lawrenz are heading to busier villages, or relocating to Malta. Old houses are being sold off at exaggerated prices that only contractors can afford, and which means the village is in danger of being turned into another ugly Buġibba.
The council is making a series of proposals, including subsidies, for “better use of the several uninhabited residences in San Lawrenz and other Gozitan localities, and ensure that they were not all sold to speculators, who instead of strengthening the community, often created more problems”.
“We believe in urgent action before it is too late. I would like to remind MPs of the beauty of our communities across the Maltese islands, especially those still embracing a particular identity,” he wrote.
Will anyone heed the mayor’s words? I am not so sure.
Perhaps we can look at what Italy is doing. Some villages facing similar predicament as San Lawrenz are fighting depopulation by selling off property at ridiculous prices. Schemes in Lecce nei Marsi in Abruzzo, Gangi in Sicily, Carrega Ligure in Piedmont and Ollolai in Sardinia have sold old dwellings to buyers for a symbolic €1 fee. In some, inhabitants have even donated their dilapidated property to the town. (Gozitans being Gozitans, I am not sure this is likely to happen though).
The result has been a complete success: people – Italians and non-Italians – have bought the dwellings for private use, or opened up small B&Bs, promoting tourism in unspoilt areas of Italy and the villages are full of life again.
Therefore, this Gozo mayor is right: subsidised schemes for smaller villages are the way to go. And in a Malta where trees are making way for roads and unsightly soul-destroying buildings, I’d be the first one to pack and help tot up the population of San Lawrenz.
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