Portal:Malta/Selected locality/15

Żejtun (also called Iż-Żejtun) is a medium sized town in the south of Malta, which has 11,425 inhabitants. Żejtun possesses the title of Città Beland, which was conferred by Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, the Grandmaster of Knights of Malta in 1797. Żejtun takes its name from Arabic az-zaytun [الزيتون] “the olive”, which was one of the main productive industries in Malta. In Medieval times the whole district around Żejtun, that is, in the southern end of Malta, was known as le Terre di Santa Caterina, ('the lands of Saint Catherine' in Italian, which was the official language in the period). Various new villages were formed from parts of the Parish of Żejtun, such as Ghaxaq and Marsaxlokk, each now being considered as a separate parish.(more...)