On St Paul's trail

The second part of Heritage Malta's heritage trail In the Footsteps of St Paul will be held on Friday with a guided tour of San Pawl Milqi near Burmarrad.

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).

It is situated next to and underneath the 17th century chapel dedicated to St Paul and holds by far the largest and best preserved Roman remains 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 Italian Military Mission, which started a new research project there in 2000.

Patrons who joined the first part of the trail, which was held last Sunday, will be eligible to join the first guided tour of the archaeological site at 2 p.m.

A limited number of tickets will be available for another tour at 3 p.m. Tickets sell at Lm2 per person. Children under 12 pay 50c.

Further information can be obtained by calling 2295 4307.