Area inside Palazzo I:
A small square (13 m2) was opened in order to see whether there was any evidence for foundation plinths on which the timber pillars supporting the first floor would have rested, and to look for evidence of the floors of palazzo I in the entrance area.

A stepped ramp built of stone slabs was uncovered. This had been patched with opus signinum in two places, probably to replace missing or worn slabs. The ramp covered the change in height of 80-90 cm between the entrance and adjacent rooms to the east.
A stretch of masonry foundation was also uncovered. Possibly a transverse dividing wall, it abutted the south-eastern perimeter wall without being toothed into it. It could simply have been a surface on which a timber partition rested, or a stone dividing wall, which reached up to the timber ceiling, given that it was situated in correspondence with the ancient doorway leading to the first floor.
A raised paved surface was uncovered between the ramp and the south-eastern perimeter wall. The roughly placed stone blocks formed a quadrangular uneven surface. At approximately the centre was a hole for a timber post, as attested by remains of carbonised wood. For the moment, the function of this structure remains uncertain.

A double layer of compact clay overlying a rocky surface constituted the floor surface in the entrance area. The collapsed material removed from on top of the floor contained bricks between 4-5 cm thick, indicating that the first floor was constituted by solid bricks resting on timber planks.

The area between the 1st and 2nd ditches:

Trench II, opened in 2008, was enlarged to the south and east during the 2011 campaign. This was done in order to facilitate the conservation and restoration of the walls of the second curtain wall and of the south-eastern corner of the kitchen, which were partially collapsed or leaning badly.

The elevation and section of the unstable part of the kitchen’s south wall (US 2031) were documented, the individual blocks were numbered, and the wall then dismantled to await reconstruction.
The space between the kitchen wall and the facade of the curtain wall was excavated down to the rock foundations. The fill of small stones and clay contained numerous artefacts, in particular glass dating to the 14th and 15th century, which had been transported there by centuries of erosion from the castle area above.

The structure of the curtain wall was also examined in section: the foundation and anchoring of the large stone blocks to the uneven rocky outcrop and the layer of fill behind complete with overlying destruction layers. The curtain wall was a dry-stone construction of large blocks; in order to reinforce the foundation the wall widened in steps towards the exterior. The space between the blocks and the flysch surface behind was filled with small stones and clay.

An interesting method was used to anchor the wall to the rocky outcrops, it was “toothed” into the hill’s substratum. The stretches between one outcrop and another had been levelled and lined with a layer of compact clay material.

The discovery of a catapult ball, in situ, up against the heavily damaged south wall of the gate’s east tower suggests the structure was destroyed by a military intervention. In order to provide a more reliable date for this event it will be necessary to excavate the interior of the structure, which at present is submerged by collapsed material.

Among the most interesting finds were a silver denaro of the patriarch of Aquilea Ottobono dei Razzi (1302-1315), a bronze annular brooch, an iron bolt head for a crossbow, a small iron knife, a fragment of armour, a fragment of a ribbed glass bottle and numerous other glass fragments with relief and coloured decoration.