A rescue excavation undertaken a few years ago in via don Milani at Lodi Vecchio, ancient Laus Pompeia, investigated an extra-urban quarter in the north-eastern sector of the ancient town, situated not far from the river Sillaro.

The excavations uncovered evidence of substantial land reclamation using amphorae, dated on the basis of the containers and associated material, to the second half of the 1st century A.D. Nothing remained of the buildings that must have stood in the area, given that the ditches with the amphorae emerged just below the plough soil. However, the indication is that this was an important intervention to reclaim land in a suburban area, in order to recover areas that could be used during a phase of the town’s expansion.

The depositional differences and typologies documented suggested a diversified use in order to deal with the instability of the terrain in various ways. Some systems, which can be seen as preventative interventions, were constructed to intercept the rise of the water-table and guarantee an adequate system of aeration, whilst other ditches seemed to have an exclusively geotechnical finality.

Lastly, with regard to the urban transformation in the ancient town the creation of a large ditch on a north-south alignment was of interest. The stratigraphy and study of the drainage materials, cut by the ditch, suggest that it was a reinforcing element constructed in a late period.