During September 2010, work concentrated on the graphic and photographic documentation of the ruins of the balneum of “le Guardiole” and the ruins in the sea, visible in section, along the stretch of coastline between “Torre Chiaruccia” and “Casale Alibrandi”. Edoardo Bruni (Società Poseidon) undertook a first campaign of underwater survey.

The visible remains of the balneum of “le Guardiole”, traditionally attributed to a Roman villa, are divided into eight rooms orientated north-west/south-east, facing onto the south side of the via Aurelia vetus. Stratigraphic analysis of the walls documented a number of differences in interpretation, with respect to the conclusions previously proposed by researchers, identifying at least four phases for the complex, including one perhaps dating to the early medieval period.

The balneum of “le Guardiole”, was traditionally attributed to a Roman villa, to which the fish pools situated west of the “le Guardiole” ditch were also thought to belong. An analysis of the archaeological remains documented on land and in the sea in this sector, showed that there is no coherence in the alignment of this group of structures. On the contrary, from a topographical point of view there are analogies between the balneum and another building also orientated on the same axis as the via Aurelia vetus. The short distance between them could even suggest that they were part of a single complex, strictly connected to the road, whose first abandonment should be dated to that of the road (Trajanic-Hadrianic period).

The ruins of Castrum Novum in the sea are documented by an interesting stratigraphic section extending for hundreds of metres along the coastline north of Santa Marinella, between “Torre Chiaruccia” and “Casale Alibrandi”. The section is divided into two large sectors revealing two different archaeological realities but which give an idea of the limits of the Roman town and the occupation of the site, before the foundation of the colony in 264 B.C.

In the western sector two levels were identified datable more or less to the Villanovan period, characterised by a series of occupation layers and very compact layers of pottery fragments. The eastern secto revealed a series of Roman buildings. Among these a second balneum with an apse, preserved to a height of at least 1.50 m, and a cappuccina burials, unfortunate destroyed by illegal excavation.