Excavations were undertaken on the abandoned medieval village of Apriliano in July and November 2009. The aim was to investigate the area around the church of Santa Maria (today known as San Lorenzo), still standing at the edge of the village. Two trenches were opened, (Area XIII) along the exterior of the church’s northern front. The church was built during the 16th century over the remains of an earlier cult building.

The 2007 campaign inside the church itself, undertaken during restoration work, led to the definition of the plan of the late medieval church, of which two small sections of the south and west perimeter walls, a floor of limestone slabs in a mortar make up, and two burials below the latter were identified.The latest investigations outside the church provided further information regarding the structure’s late medieval layout, the external cemetery area and the reorganization of the area following the rebuilding of the church.

A wall (US 3117) on an east-west alignment was uncovered along the southern edge of the excavation area opened to the north-east of the church. It probably related to the north wall of the medieval church. Immediately to its north three burials came to light, also orientated east-west. Tomb LXXXII was an adult burial, although the remains were not found as they were probably tampered with in the 16th century, in a reused stone coffin (perhaps part of a Roman tomb). The ossuary excavated in the terrain (T. LXXXI), probably relating to tomb LXXX, preserved the remains of at least three individuals of differing ages. Lastly, tomb LXXXII, that of a baby, was an elliptical grave lined with stones and tiles, with a stone used as a cushion. A few metres north of the burial what was probably the collapse of a structure (US 3127) was intercepted. Apparently datable to the first half of the 13th century the remains had been partially disturbed by agricultural activities in the area.

A wall (US 3113) circa 6 m long and 1 m wide, on an east-west alignment, was intercepted to the north-west of the church. Probably part of a building, it was constituted by two facings of irregular blocks with a core of earth and limestone chippings and seemed to have been built no later than the 12th-13th century. The lack of collapsed elements suggests it was robbed during the construction of the 16th century church. Slightly to the north of this wall, surface cleaning of the area revealed the remains of another wall (US 3151) more or less parallel to US 3113. Future investigations will have to clarify the length and possible relationship with wall US 3113.

A rubbish pit (US 3140) relating to the rebuilding of the church during the 16th century contained painted plaster fragments, tile/brick and lumps of mortar, probably from the late medieval church. Also relating to the reconstruction was a makeup of beaten earth (US 3104=3106, 3107), created in order to bring the ground surface level with that of the paving of the last construction phase of the church.