Filfla

---

title: "Filfla" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["islands-of-malta", "uninhabited-islands-of-malta", "important-bird-areas-of-malta", "seabird-colonies", "natura-2000-in-malta"] description: "Uninhabited island in Malta" topic_path: "general/islands-of-malta" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filfla" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Uninhabited island in Malta ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox islands"]

Field	Value
name	Filfla
image_name	Filfla 1.jpg
image_caption	Filfla and neighboring Filfoletta seen from Dingli Cliffs (from northwest)
map_image	Filfla map.jpg
map_caption	Map of Filfla
native_name	Filfa
location	South of Malta, Mediterranean Sea
coordinates
archipelago	Maltese islands
total_islands	2
area_km2	0.06
elevation_m	60
country	Malta
population	0
pushpin_map	Malta
pushpin_map_caption	Location within Malta
::

::callout[type=note] island in Malta ::

| name = Filfla | image_name = Filfla 1.jpg | image_caption = Filfla and neighboring Filfoletta seen from Dingli Cliffs (from northwest) | image_size = | map_image = Filfla map.jpg | map_caption = Map of Filfla | native_name =Filfa | native_name_link = | nickname = | location = South of Malta, Mediterranean Sea | coordinates = | archipelago = Maltese islands | total_islands =2 | major_islands = | area_km2 = 0.06 | coastline_m = | highest_mount = | elevation_m = 60 | country = Malta | population = 0 | population_as_of = | density_km2 = | ethnic_groups = | additional_info = | pushpin_map =Malta | pushpin_map_caption =Location within Malta

Filfla is a mostly barren, uninhabited islet 4.5 km south of Malta, and is the most southerly point of the Maltese Archipelago. Filflett, a rocky islet some 101 m southwest of Filfla, has the southernmost point of Malta. The name is believed to come from felfel, the Arabic word for peppercorn. Prior to the 17th century, nautical maps of Malta typically referred to the island as simply 'Pepper' island.

Environment

Filfla has an area of 3.7282 ha with a 988 m long coastline. It is a crumbling flat-topped limestone plateau surrounded by 60 m high cliffs. Three species of seabirds breed on the islet: the European storm petrel (with an estimated 5000 – 8000 pairs), Cory's shearwater (c. 200 pairs) and yellow-legged gull (c. 130 pairs). The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International, principally because of the storm petrel colony. A type of wall lizard (Podarcis filfolensis ssp. filfolensis) and door snail (Lampedusa imitatrix gattoi) are endemic to Filfla. A large wild leek, growing up to 2 m high, also occurs. Access to Filfla is only possible for educational or scientific purposes, subject to prior permission from the Environment and Resources Authority.

History

Lone Island, also called the island of Filfla, was possibly sacred to the Neolithic inhabitants of Malta, who built the temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra on the Maltese coast opposite the islet.

The only known permanent structure on the island was a chapel built inside a cave in 1343, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1856 that also sank part of the island. A map of Malta dating back to 1798 shows a fort, a lighthouse and a monastery with a chapel on Filfla.

Until 1971 the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force used the island for target practice, and spent cartridges from these bombardments can still be found on Filfla today. It became a bird reserve in 1980. The Filfla Natural Reserve Act, enacted in 1988, provided for further restrictions on access and use, including a prohibition on fishing within one nautical mile (1.9 km) around the island due to the possibility of encountering unexploded ordnance.

Maltese Government notice 173 of 1990 once again permitted fishing within the one-mile zone.

Filfla was invoked in a territorial dispute over the continental shelf between Libya and Malta. The case was adjudicated by the International Court of Justice in 1985 essentially by ignoring the islet from the calculations.

A substantial piece of the island was eroded during Storm Harry in January 2026, potentially threatening key seabird habitat.

Legends

The creation story of Filfla is linked to the legends surrounding the formation of Il-Maqluba. Maltese legend recounts that the area that now forms Il-Maqluba was inhabited by people who lived such dissolute lives that a neighbour warned them against their sinful ways, without them taking notice. God therefore wished to punish the sinners by engulfing the hamlet, saving only the wise neighbour. Angels are then said to have thrown a fragment of the hamlet into the sea, creating the isle of Filfla.

In films

Filfla served as the location of Scab Island in the 1980 film Popeye.

References

References

1. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arnold_Sciberras2/publication/260294462_SCIBERRAS_J._SCIBERRAS_A%282010%29_Topography_and_Flora_of_the_Satellite_islets_surrounding_the_Maltese_Archipelago._The_Central_Mediterranean_Naturalist_5%282%2931-42._Nature_Trust_Malta_publications/links/00b49530ad3f6c4e5f000000.pdf "Topography and Flora of the Satellite islets surrounding the Maltese Archipelago"] - Arnold Sciberras, Jeffrey Sciberras, 2010
2. (2011). "Bejn Kliem u Storja". Books Distributors Limited.
3. (2016). "The Pre-Siege Maps of Malta". BDL Books.
4. (2013). "Filfla Islet". BirdLife International.
5. (6 January 2016). "An island cemetery for bombs on which no one can set foot". [[TVM (Malta).
6. Attard, Anton F. (2012). "Il-Castrum Terre Gaudisii u l-Origini tal-Matrici tal-Assunta f'Ghawdex". Leone Philharmonic Society.
7. Cini, George. (4 January 2005). "Filfla too had a chapel dedicated to Our Lady".
8. (28 April 2015). "'Napoleon' map gives a tantalising clue to the past". [[Times of Malta]].
9. "Archived copy".
10. Hance D. Smith. (1991). "The Development of Integrated Sea Use Management". Taylor & Francis.
11. "CASE CONCERNING THE CONTINENTAL SHELF (LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA/MALTA) Judgment of 3 June 1985".
12. Bonanno, Matthew. (2026-01-22). "Piece of Filfla breaks off during Storm Harry threatening key seabird habitat".
13. "Il-Maqluba, Qrendi, Malta, Legends, myths & folklore".
14. Vanhove, Martine. (1993). "La langue maltaise: études syntaxiques d'un dialecte arabe "périphérique"". Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::