Villa Rundle Gardens Musical Benches

The bench that plays a sample of opera music from Gozo. Dark Nebula Deluxe (Atlas Obscura User)

Located on the east side of Victoria (Rabat) in the center of the island of Gozo, Villa Rundle Gardens is a lush park that offers a nice retreat from the city’s hectic streets. The park also features multiple amenities including a playground and bathrooms, and it is often used as an outdoor performance venue.

However, visitors can still experience Malta’s musical offerings even when no performances are scheduled in the park. Six black benches around the park feature plaques with biographical and historical information about Malta’s music as well as buttons that visitors can press to listen to extended recordings of the music.

These benches provide musical offerings ranging from classical orchestral music to rock. Three benches highlight the achievements of specific Maltese individuals: classical composers Joseph Vella and Joseph Farrugia and rock musician Dominic Greech, who was one of the founders of the 1960s and 1970s group the Tramps.

Two more benches feature opera and band music that has been performed on Gozo. The final bench plays a form of traditional Maltese music called Għana as performed by the 20th-century local musician Fredu Spiteri. Overall, these six benches are a novel way to experience Malta’s cultural heritage while taking a break from traveling around Malta’s second-largest island.

Know Before You Go

The Villa Rundle Gardens are open from the early morning into the evening, with the exact times changing between the summer and winter months. Most of the pathways are flat and easy to navigate by people using wheelchairs. The musical benches are generally spread out throughout the park and can be spotted by walking around the park’s periphery. Note that, when one of these benches starts playing music, the music will continue for several minutes. The music is sufficiently loud that it will attract the attention of other people walking by or sitting nearby in the park.

The Villa Rundle Gardens are located between Triq ir-Repubblika and Triq Giorgio Borġ Olivier just to the east of the center of Victoria (Rabat). The gardens are within walking distance of both the hotels in the center of the city as well as the island’s central bus station. Parking is available just off of Triq Giorgio Borġ Olivier next to the gardens.