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 have identified an important building complex, probably the property of an imperial functionary or member of the local elite, which forms part of one of the most interesting late antique residential contexts in northern Italy. The main aim of the 2017 campaign was to clarify, by extending the excavation on the northern side of the domus, the relationship between the structures of the so-called “Case di Brusin” identified by the scholar from Aquileia in the first half of the 1900s and unfortunately not geo-referenced. The aim was to investigate whether there was a continuous relationship between the two contexts. The excavations uncovered the make-up for a mosaic floor that Brusin had lifted and is now on display in the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia. The walls of the excavated rooms develop without a break in continuity from the so-called “Quartieri Nord” of the domus, showing that the late antique residence extended to the north of the previously investigated area, probably occupying the entire insula.

The possibility of geo-referencing the plan drawn up in those years and inserting Brusin’s excavations into the overall archaeological map of Aquileia will certainly add to the picture of residential buildings in Aquileia and the topography of the area between the forum and the river port.