Submit a photo
Submit a photo
Ninety seconds on San Pawl Milqi
Not as a walk-in. Heritage Malta lists the archaeological site as open by appointment, and it also opens the remains and the chapel to the public on set days that it announces in advance.
Heritage Malta. It takes the bookings for the archaeological site in Burmarrad, and it runs the public openings there, including the guided tours held on the saint’s feast day.
Yes, by tradition. Heritage Malta notes the belief that Publius, the island’s Protos, welcomed and hosted Paul here around AD 60, and the site takes its name from the chapel of San Pawl Milqi built over the villa.
Heritage Malta opens this Roman farm villa under a small chapel at Burmarrad by appointment and on public days it announces in advance, and you walk through its olive-oil works and into the chapel.
San Pawl Milqi is a Roman villa built around olive oil, and the largest industrial site of its period found on the islands. The farm was occupied for at least six centuries, from the second century BC to the fourth century AD.
Visitors view the remains of its olive-oil production alongside the rest of the villa’s archaeological remains, then go into the chapel that stands on the same ground.
That small chapel, from the beginning of the 17th century, stands on top of the Roman remains and is the latest of several built in turn on this spot. Its dedication, to the welcoming of St Paul, gives the site its name.
Book a visit through the San Pawl Milqi page on Heritage Malta’s website, which gives a booking link and the phone number 21582063. Heritage Malta also posts public openings on its What’s On pages: the feast of St Paul’s Shipwreck has been the regular one, and an 8 October opening has also been held.
The closest bus stop is five minutes from the site on foot. On past open days, guided tours have started every 45 minutes and taken visitors through the archaeological remains and into the chapel.
Some areas of the site cannot be fully accessed with a mobility impairment, so say so when you book.
At the feast-day opening, Heritage Malta has paired a Mass at the site with its guided tours. Check that year’s listing for the order of the morning before you go. Other openings have taken a different form: one ran as an interactive morning programme from 09:00 to around 12:30.
Explore the rest of St. Paul's Bay
A dome among the largest unsupported church domes in Europe crowns Mosta's parish church, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. In April 1942 a…
Shaped like a starfish on the tip of Qawra Point, the aquarium holds tanks of Mediterranean species, a walk-through tunnel with sharks and…
A British defensive wall follows the Great Fault escarpment for about 12 km across Malta, from Madliena in the east to Fomm ir-Riħ in the…
On a ridge above a sandy bay, this hilltop town is the base for the northern beaches, the boats to Comino and the Gozo ferry at Ċirkewwa.…
From the ramparts at the northern tip of Mdina, the view runs across central Malta to the Mosta dome and on to the sea at St Paul's Bay.…
Baroque architecture and a floor of inlaid marble tombstones fill Mdina's cathedral, rebuilt by Lorenzo Gafà after the 1693 earthquake.…
Inside a ring of bastions on a hill at the centre of Malta, the old capital is a quiet walled city of palazzi, churches and narrow lanes. A…
A stone bridge over the dry moat leads to Mdina's main gate, a baroque archway built in 1724 and carved with the arms of Grand Master…
Last updated