Milis, Church of Saint Paul

The territory of Milis has returned archaeological traces that attest to the continuity of settlement starting from the pre-Nuragic age. In medieval times, Milis was the capital of curatorics. According to tradition, the church of San Paolo was the first parish church in Milis, before the polarization of the town around the current parish church of San Sebastiano.
The church of San Paolo, included in the cemetery enclosure, faces directly onto the road. It stands out among the citrus groves of the Milis plain and is impressive because of its spectacular façade, built in bichrome work, that is, alternating rows of light limestone with rows of dark basalt. The title of “sanctu Paulu de Miili” is documented in the “Condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado” (12th-13th century). The diversity of materials (limestones, volcanites, basalts and greenish tuff) indicates the possibility that different workers were involved in the construction of the church. The same building technique shows discontinuity, so it can be assumed that the first workers, linked to the construction of the cathedral of Santa Giusta and operating in the middle of the 12th century, owe the system and the structural frame characterized by large corner piles and the shoe-like plinth that runs along the entire perimeter.
The workers who worked in Arborea in the first quarter of the 13th century owe those parts in two-tone work of basalt and golden limestone that were installed regularly, especially on the façade. The church of San Paolo has a longitudinal plan of about 24 m. The type can be classified as a “commissa” cross, with an upside-down apse. At two-thirds of the length, the main aisle perpendicularly intersects a much shorter arm of the aisle, with the function of a transept. On the N/E side of the transept arm and along the main aisle, a foreign body is inserted into the cruciform perimeter. The roof has wooden trusses in the central aisle and a cross in the transept and in the N/E compartment.
The façade receives impetus from the two pilasters on the sides of the portal, which, with the corner pillars, divide the façade into three mirrors concluded by round shaped arches. The central one houses a molded oculus, the side rhombuses with steps. The only portal in the façade is of the architraved type with a timpaned architrave and a round lunette. Along the entire perimeter of the church, including the apse, there is a series of round shaped arches of different sizes, set on worked paducci, in turn free or weighted on pilasters or corner pillars.

History of studies
The church was analyzed in the mid-twentieth century by Raffaello Delogu, who took into account the various workers who worked there and the relationships with Santa Maria di Bonarcado. Her studies have been deepened by Renata Serra and Roberto Coroneo.

Bibliography
R. Delogu, The Architecture of the Middle Ages in Sardinia, Rome, The State Library, 1953, pp. 120;
R. Serra, Sardinia, series “Romanesque Italy”, Milan, Jaca Book, 1989, pp. 367-368; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Architecture from the Mid Thousand to the Early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 98;
R. Coroneo-R. Serra, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Sardinia, series “Italian Artistic Heritage”, Milan, Jaca Book, 2004, pp. 282-284; R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia. Tourist-cultural itineraries, Cagliari, AV; 2005, pp. 76-78.