New excavations and analyses of the archaeological remains situated in the locality of “Torre di Gennaro” began in 2007. Here, an area for public use had been identified, the forum of the ancient town of Larinum. The work concentrated on the north-eastern sector of the forum which appeared to be bordered, to the east, by the monumental facade of a large apsidal building (building A), traditionally interpreted as a basilica and only partially explored to date. The interest and peculiarity of the building, in opus reticulatum mixtum, emerge not only from the state of preservation of the structures and remains of architectural decorations still in situ, but also from its position and level of monumentality with which, through transformations and readaptions both architectural and functional, it seems to have survived well beyond late antiquity, the period to which the final great restructuring visible in the archaeology dates.

The excavation involved the part of the building as yet unexplored, in particular, the north-western sector. Here, it was possible to attribute the creation of a stylobate using limestone blocks taken from an honorary monument of Augustan date to a late antique phase. Two main phases were identified, one dating to between the final decades of the 1st and the first half of the 2nd century A.D., the other to the mid 4th century A.D. Following the earthquake of 346 A.D. the building was reconstructed and its appearance completely modified, both in plan and architecture. The new internal division into five naves redefined the extension and function of the great central court. In the central nave, along the surviving stylobate, the honorary dedication celebrating Antonius (346-351/358 A.D.), the first rector of the regio Samnium, may indicate who was responsible for the reconstruction of the entire building. It remains difficult to establish the function of the first building, perhaps a reception area administered by a collegio, whilst the second phase was probably connected with judicial affairs and the administration of the territory.