Located in the middle of the Mediterranean, between Europe and Africa, the walled Cittadella on the Maltese Island of Gozo has been of strategic importance since the Phoenicians first set out in boats to trade with their neighbours more than a thousand years before the beginnings of the Roman Empire. Over the centuries the fortifications were regularly extended and improved by whoever had taken possession of the island at the time. Ironically 300 years without a siege meant that it was allowed to lapse into serious decay.