Vittoriosa

Vittoriosa, also known as Birgu, is the oldest of Malta's Three Cities and served as the headquarters of the Knights of St John before the construction of Valletta. The Fort St Angelo, which anchors the tip of the peninsula, has been continuously fortified since Byzantine times and served as the last line of defense during the Great Siege of 1565 when the Knights withstood an Ottoman assault for four months. The narrow medieval lanes of the Collachio, the knights' quarter, contain some of the finest late Gothic and early baroque domestic architecture in Malta.