location:

The Maltese Islands have always been of strategic importance for over a thousand years, because they are situated at the heart of the Mediterranean. They lie between southern Europe and North Africa and between Western Europe and the Middle East.

They are 58 miles/93km south of Sicily – which can often be seen with the naked eye from the cliffs of Gozo, and 180miles/290km east of Tunisia.

There are six islands altogether, of which only three are inhabited: Malta, which is 95 sq miles/246 sq km; Gozo, 26 sq miles/67sq km, and Comino, 1 sq mile/2.7sq km. The other three are very small – Cominetto, St Paul’s Islet and Filfla.