The Abbey of Nostra Signora di Paulis stands between Ittiri and Uri, in a landscape characterised by alternating green hills and white limestone outcrops.
The name (paulis = swamp) recalls the swampy nature of the site where it was built. It was precisely because of this swampy nature that the then Giudice di Torres (Judicate of Logudoro) entrusted this land to the Cistercian Benedictine Monks, who cleaned it up and founded a church and abbey there in 1205.
Local stone was used for the construction. Nearby, there are still signs of quarry excavations in the limestone shelves to extract the blocks.
The abbey was built in Romanesque style. It had a three-nave hall with barrel-vaults. The extensive transept was linked by two arches to the central nave, and in its two arms were two chapels, one for each side. The presbytery was quadrangular.
The community remained active until the XV century, after which the complex was abandoned and was already in ruins by the XIX century. What remains standing has been restored. Of what is still visible, it is worth mentioning the choir, part of the perimeter wall of the transept and the two chapels overlooking it, six arches which divided the central nave from the small naves to the right and part of the perimeter wall of the right nave. The remains of the cloister and some of the abbey rooms around the main building are still visible.
