Feast of St Lawrence Birgu

The Feast of St Lawrence, celebrated on 10 August in Birgu, also known as Vittoriosa, honours the patron saint of the town that served as the Knights of St John's first capital and headquarters before Valletta was built. The feast combines a statue procession and fireworks with deep historical resonance, since Birgu bore the brunt of the 1565 Great Siege before the Knights later moved their seat to the new capital.

Before Valletta existed, the Knights of St John made Birgu, then still commonly called by its Italian name Vittoriosa, their capital and military headquarters after arriving on Malta in 1530, fortifying the peninsula and building the auberges, palaces and defensive walls that still define the town's historic core today.