Minister’s ‘yoga retreat’ turns into ‘groove mafia’ party venue

A quaint boutique hotel in Gozo, marketed as a tranquil yoga and meditation retreat owned by Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo, is being promoted as the venue for a large Easter techno party organised by events brand ‘Groove Mafia’.

The event is being advertised as an all-day Easter Sunday bash at l-Eremita (hermit), Refalo’s boutique hotel on the outskirts of Qala, where hundreds of partygoers are expected to gather for a day of electronic music.

The controversial property was originally promoted as a peaceful countryside retreat focused on yoga, meditation and wellness experiences. Instead, the quiet rural site is now being marketed as a rave-style party venue, raising fresh questions about the project’s purpose and compliance with its funding conditions.

Minister Refalo’s hotel project benefited from around €270,000 in EU funding through the European Regional Development Fund after being presented as a wellness tourism project focused on yoga, meditation and culinary experiences.

It sits in an Outside Development Zone (ODZ) surrounded by agricultural land and countryside views overlooking Daħlet Qorrot Bay.

Promotional material for the Easter event shows it transformed into a daytime party venue hosting large crowds and DJs, with revellers paying entry fees to attend.

Sources told The Shift that it is unclear whether the organisers or the minister obtained the necessary police permits required to hold such an event. Concerns were also raised about the logistics of hosting hundreds of attendees in a rural area with limited infrastructure, particularly parking.

The property, which evolved over decades from a small agricultural store acquired by Refalo and his wife, Michelina, in the early 1990s, is now a boutique hotel complex featuring 11 guest rooms and two swimming pools.

Much of the expansion took place without planning permits and was later sanctioned through a series of planning procedures and appeals before the Planning Authority.

Despite objections from the Environment and Resources Authority that the project would consolidate development “not characteristic of rural areas,” permits were eventually granted.

The Shift has previously reported that many of the specialised services cited in the EU funding application do not appear to be offered at the hotel.

More recently, a Planning Authority inspection reportedly found an unauthorised parking area bulldozed on nearby public ODZ land that does not belong to the Refalo family. No enforcement action was taken.

Refalo, the longest-serving minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Abela, has also faced other controversies in recent years, including a police investigation after a stolen historic British-era boundary marker was discovered in the garden of his Qala residence.

While Refalo denied wrongdoing and said he was cooperating with authorities, he was never faced with any charges.

Refalo’s daughter, Simona, who is expected to follow in her father’s footsteps, was elected two years ago as the mayor of Xewkija.