In 2005, Trieste University began excavations in an area along the via Gemina in which one of the ancient city’s most important residential insulae_is situated, close to the forum and the river port. The entire area was investigated in the 1930s by Brusin; other oblique trenches were excavated closer to the area in question by Bertacchi. However, the zone beside the modern road, next to the place where the so-called “Flowered Carpet” mosaic was found has never been the object of modern interventions.

The excavations identified an important building complex, probably owned by an imperial functionary or local aristocrats, which is one of the most interesting late antique residential contexts in northern Italy. Although the complete plan is not yet known, it may be suggested that it had several entrances: the main one (not yet found) must have opened onto the via Gemina, which is indicated by some to be the town’s decumanus maximus, situated south of the modern road, while a secondary entrance, with a paved courtyard and well, was partially excavated on the east side of the house, by the cardo deliminting the east side of the insula.
During the 2018 campaign, a series of structures was identified whose overall reading, particularly of the northern rooms of the domus, was compromised by a complex series of cuts and post antique and contemporary interventions. Despite this, several of the structures present in Brusin’s excavation records were recognised and georeferenced. The layout of the area presented a sequence of rooms and construction phases, demonstrated, for example, by the relationships between the identified walls or by the structures overlying the tile floor associated with the mosaic floor with polychrome insertions that was lifted in the 1930s. Future research will aim to clarify the function of the rooms in this sector, the presence of another entrance and therefore how the area related to the road and shops and, where possible, to determine the relationship of this sector with the rest of the domus.