COMINO

The island of Comino covers only 3.5 km2 and is named after the cumin herb once grown here.  It is accessible only by boat and has no urban areas, roads or vehicles.   In Comino the Mediterranean colours of Malta are at their most vivid.  The rugged rocks covered in wild thyme and other herbs provide the perfect setting for the crystal blue waters surrounding the island.  The Blue Lagoon, a sheltered bay of shimmering aquamarine waters, is an attraction on the tiny island of Comino and a popular day trip for cruises.  The Lagoon and the island's other bays, its creeks, caves and grottos all serve to make Comino the ideal choice for most kinds of water sports holidays, especially diving and snorkelling, all of which are offered at the island’s beach hotel.  However, Comino is worth a visit all year round.  In winter, with its paths winding through unusual rock formations, it is ideal as a very quiet holiday location for walkers and photographers.

For long periods of its history Comino was not a safe place on which to live.  This notwithstanding, people did inhabit this tiny island on and off.  Comino has been put to different uses over the centuries by the various rulers of the Maltese Islands.  It was inhabited in the Roman period, but did not gain significance until the Knights arrived.

The Knights used Comino as a staging post but were more interested in its grounds which they used for hunting and recreation.  Though stark and barren today, the island was home to wild boar and hares when the Knights arrived in 1530.  The Grand Masters went to great lengths to ensure their game on Comino was protected. Anyone found breaking the embargo on hunting could expect to serve three years as a galley slave.

In 1416 the Maltese requested the Aragonese king, Alphonse V, to build a tower in Comino to deter the corsairs who had made it their base but the people of the island had to wait two hundred years before work was taken in hand and the Tower of Comino was eventually finished in 1618 under Grand Master Adrienne de Wignacourt.  The protection of the tower was not enough to encourage many people to make Comino their home.  In fact the ancient chapel was de-consecrated in 1667 as being derelict, and was only repaired and re-consecrated in 1716 when the island had been repopulated to some extent.  The Knights also built St. Mary’s Battery, a prominent building, which was finished in 1722, but which was never used in a defense capacity. With its four residents and a single hotel, Comino, even today, has the air of a forsaken but beautiful island.

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