The excavated site is situated on the south-western edge of the acropolis overlooking the Cecina valley and the coast. The main aim of the investigation was to define the plan of a late Hellenistic building (mid 2nd century B.C.) where, between 1989-1991, a room frescoed according to so-called I style models, had been found. At the end of the excavation the building was revealed to be a small temple with a rectangular aula, the façade facing to the south-east, similar in structure and contemporary with temple A. On the front of the temple there was a flight of steps, partially destroyed by a robber trench of post-medieval date. The interior was divided into two spaces: a closed frescoed cella, accessible only from the front and probably where the sacred image of the cult of Demeter was housed and a room which could also be accessed from a door in the temple’s long side over looking the valley.

From the data relative to the cults practised at the sanctuary it may be supposed that during the annual feasts similar to the Thesmophoria of the Greek world, the temple gave hospitality to the women initiated into the rites of Demeter, who, having spent the night inside the building, then exited via the backdoor and went in procession towards the enclosure area.

The back wall of the temple and the area immediately outside it presented some structural peculiarities linked to the performance of the rituals described above. In fact, the back wall of the building had an unusual opening with a two columned porch, and a paved pathway led from the door itself into the nearest cult enclosure (enclosure IV). At least two overlying levels of this basalt paved road were uncovered, datable to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. This evidence provided further confirmation of the continuity of cult life between the “Etruscan period” and the “Roman period”, which increasingly appears to be a characteristic trait of this sanctuary. Also of note the fact that, a substantial quantity of small pyriform balsamarii and torches showing signs of use lay on the same level as the pathway.