San Lawrenz Feast 2026: Festa Dates, Festival & What to Expect

San Lawrenz celebrates its patron, St Lawrence, on Sunday 9 August 2026, and for one week Gozo’s far west stops being the quiet corner of the island. One of Gozo’s smallest villages throws one of its fullest feasts: a religious festa that starts loading the square with band marches and fireworks, plus something none of the island’s other feasts has, a parallel village festival of concerts, folk singing and food running on the nights in between. If your Gozo trip includes Dwejra, and it should, this is the week the village next door is at its best.

When Is the San Lawrenz Feast 2026?

The feast day is Sunday 9 August 2026, with the celebrations running for over a week beforehand. San Lawrenz does one thing differently from most Gozo feasts: the statue of St Lawrence comes out of its niche on the very first night of the novena, so the village is in full feast dress from the start rather than building to it.

The full programme is published by the parish on its Facebook page, which, as usual for Gozo feasts, is the place for exact timings.

Top Tip: St Lawrence’s feast day is 10 August in the universal calendar, and the celebrations here stay tied to it, so unlike the moveable feasts, San Lawrenz always falls on the same August weekend. Plan around it with confidence.

How the Feast Week Unfolds

The festa follows its own rhythm around the festival evenings (more on those below), and for a village this size it draws a remarkable crowd of guests. The novena evenings each have their own congregation, from children and families to the sick and elderly, and, as at every Gozo feast, a day for emigrants and villagers living away. Recent years have brought guest bands from across the islands for the final days: Kerċem’s San Girgor Band, Xewkija’s Prekursur Band, Għarb’s Visitation Band, Għajnsielem’s St Joseph Band, Xagħra’s Victory Band and Victoria’s La Stella among them, for marches, square concerts and the accompaniment of the statue to its pedestal.

The eve brings the solemn translation of the relic of St Lawrence to the parish church, then the square fills for the evening concert, the singing of the feast’s great anthem, A San Lorenzo Levita e Martire, and the fireworks. The feast day itself opens with the pontifical mass led by the Bishop of Gozo and closes with the evening procession, the statue of St Lawrence carried through the village to the hymns of the parish choir before the marches on the bandstand see the festa out.

If the wider festa rhythm is new to you, the petards, band marches and processions, our Gozo village feasts guide explains the traditions behind what you’re watching.

Confirmed 2026 Dates So Far

Monday 3 August, 9pm: Maltese Folk Chants, the għana evening in Pjazza San Lawrenz, with Maltese and Gozitan għannejja and guitarists. Free.

Wednesday 5 August, 9pm: Il-Kunċert, a live set from Cash and Band followed by a DJ afterparty in the square. Free.

Thursday 6 August, 9pm: Lejla Lawrenzjana, a lineup of Maltese singers with a live band, from pop and rock to ballads. Free.

Saturday 8 August, 9.30pm: Concert and Fireworks, the eve-of-feast night, with a band club concert in the square ending in the fireworks display in honour of St Lawrence. Free.

Sunday 9 August: the feast day itself, centred on the parish church.

More dates will be added as the parish publishes the full programme.

The Festival San Lawrenz

Here’s what makes this feast different. Alongside the parish’s religious programme, the Local Council stages the Festival San Lawrenz in the square: a run of free evenings that turn feast week into a small cultural festival. The one to circle is the għana night, an evening of traditional Maltese folk singing, where singers trade improvised verses in the island’s oldest musical tradition, backed by guitarists, under the open sky. Għana is increasingly hard to catch on Gozo outside folklore showcases; hearing it in a village square during a festa is the real thing.

The rest of the festival runs from a village feast lunch to full concert nights, and everything happens in and around Pjazza San Lawrenz, a few steps from the church.

Make a Day of It: The Festa and Dwejra

San Lawrenz sits at the edge of some of Gozo’s most filmed landscape. Dwejra Bay, the Inland Sea and Fungus Rock are a few minutes down the road, with the Azure Window’s former site among the most famous filming locations on the island, including the Dothraki wedding in Game of Thrones. Feast week is the perfect excuse to pair them: Dwejra in the late afternoon when the light softens and the coaches have gone, then back up to the village as the square comes to life for the evening.

Where to Stay for the San Lawrenz Feast

San Lawrenz has the unusual distinction of being a tiny village with a five-star hotel: the Kempinski sits just below the village core, close enough to walk up to the square for the evening celebrations. If you fancy somewhere a little closer, the Quaint Signature Hotel San Lawrenz opened in July 2026 and is two-minutes from the church.

Otherwise it’s farmhouses and self-catering stays here and in neighbouring Għarb, which share the same quiet, rural west-end feel right up until the petards start.

Getting There and Home Again

San Lawrenz is Gozo’s far west, around 20 minutes’ drive from the ferry and 10 from Victoria, and the bus service out here is the thinnest on the island, finishing well before a festa does. If you’re not staying in the village or in Għarb, plan on driving or booking a Bolt or eCabs for the journey home, and book the return ride earlier in the evening rather than trusting availability at midnight in the island’s quietest corner. Drivers should park on the approach roads and walk in, as the streets around the square close for the celebrations.

You can find full details in our guide to getting to and around Gozo.

FAQ

For one August week, one of Gozo’s smaller corners makes the most of itself, and the għana night alone is worth the trip west. The feasts keep coming either side of it: Qala’s San Ġużepp the weekend before, Santa Marija in Victoria the weekend after, and the full calendar is in our village feasts guide. Our August What’s On guide has our top picks for everything else happening around them.