The second part of Heritage Malta’s Heritage Trail In the Footsteps of St Paul will be held this Friday with a guided tour of San Pawl Milqi. Those who joined the first part of the trail, which was successfully held last Sunday, will be eligible to join the first guided tour of the archeological site which will be held at 2.00pm.

A limited number of tickets will be available for another tour which will be held at 3pm. These are priced at Lm2 per person. Children under 12 years of age pay 50c. Booking is strictly on a first come, first served basis and all tickets have to be pre-booked and collected from Head Office in Merchants Street, Valletta. Further information can be obtained by calling 2295-4307.

The site of San Pawl Milqi shows evidence of prehistoric settlement from the Neolithic Period (c.4100-3800BC) to the Bronze Age Period (c.2500-700BC).

The San Pawl Milqi remains, situated next to and underneath the 17th century chapel dedicated to St Paul, are by far the largest and best preserved remains of Roman villas in Malta.

The villa itself consisted of a residential area and another section which was intended for agricultural purposes. Excavations have revealed tools such as an olive-pipper and huge rectangular blocks of stone that indicate that the main activity was the crushing of olives for the extraction of olive oil.

Excavations on the site began in the 1960s by the Missione Archaeologica Italiana and a new research project on the San Pawl Milqi was initiated by the Missione in 2000.