On the western tip of the town of Sovana, along the Via del Duomo, two seasons of excavation took place in 2001 and 2002, prior to the construction of a hotel.

The excavation covered two areas. To the south the most interesting find was a wall 17 m. long parallel to Via del Duomo and carried out in the -checkerboard’ technique which has not previously been found in Sovana. Together with other walls it belongs to the settlement of the fourth century b.C., which remained in use until the beginning of the following century, and replaced a settlement of the archaic period. To the north, along the edge of the plateau, were found monumental structures in opus quadratum, linked by channels of the Hellenistic period still used in the late Republic and early empire. Here we also recorded a protohistoric settlement with stratigraphy from the late Bronze Age and some post holes, which can be distinguished from a large series of intrusions – holes, channels and pits – dug into the tufo, of uncertain date, which must have formed part of some productive activity. There were also a few inhumations, probably early medieval or later.