Shortly after the creation of the Selva del Lamone Nature Reserve, following surveys and on the indication of the Farnese Civic Museum and the SAEM, it was decided to undertake a first intervention regarding the numerous illegal excavations present within the walls of Rofalco.

In the summer of 1996 the first limited trenches were excavated. In the central zone (Area 0) the walls of four rooms were identified together with a series of rows of stones at descending levels. The first of these rooms (room 2), although disturbed by illegal digging, revealed a sequence of fairly coherent collapses, characterised by the presence of a level of destruction and burning. A second room (room 3), with a wide counter/bench, was identified as a textile workshop thanks to the discovery of over twenty loom-weights. Useful chronological data came from the excavation of the levels below the flooring, which showed the working of the bed-rock and make ups for the building of the structures.

In the nearby Area 1000 a polygonal terrace wall was investigated. A rough niche was associated with the wall containing an amphora with linear decoration containing burnt bones and charcoal, perhaps relating to a sacrificial context.

The following year, as well as continuing the excavation of the first two areas, an area to the north (Area 2000) was opened, where substantial illegal digging had brought to light numerous dolium fragments. The excavation revealed part of a structure interpretable as a warehouse (room 2) and a sizable courtyard paved with tufa slabs, its walls built of opus africanum (room 1).

After a year dedicated entirely to the finds study, in 1999 the first publication on Rofalco was completed by M. Incitti. The presentation of the excavation results and the precise analysis of the finds provided clear dating for the site, confirmed by the continuing excavations. The proposed dating, between the mid 4th and the first decades of the 3rd century B.C., makes it possible to relate the fire and abandonment of the site to the Roman defeat of Vulci in 280 B.C.
In the same year the excavation of Area 2000 continued with the opening of two new sectors, Areas 7000 and 3000. This revealed a stretch of the settlement’s central via glareata, flanked on one side by a porticoed sidewalk and other buildings, only partially investigated, among which there appeared to be a second warehouse complex analogous to that in the nearby Area 2000. Like the structure in Area 2000, the latter was also partially built in opus africanum.

In 2000 and 2001 activity concentrated on Area 3000, where the final layers of collapse on top of the road were excavated. An exceptional find was a trachyte stone weight incised with a cross.