The excavation in the area in front of the church of Santa Lucia was a collaboration between the Archaeological Superintendency for Cagliari and Oristano, the Architectural Superintendency for Cagliari, the department of Archaeology and History of Art and the Faculty of Architecture at Cagliari University.

The 2011/2012 was part of the project to restore the church ruin and open it to the public, which was started in 2005 by the Parish of Sant’Eulalia, the Associazione Storia della Città, the Superintendencies and municipality of Cagliari.

The ruins date to the early 17th century and are the result of the monument’s demolition in 1947. The church had a quadrangular presbytery, to the sides of which were two sacristies, three chapels on each side, and two small rooms in the first bay, one of which relating to the bell-tower. The church is mentioned in archive documents of 1119 with the name of Santa Lucia di Civita owned by the Vittorini monks. In 1263, it was the only church in the Lapola quarter to be visited by the archbishop of Pisa Federico Visconti. A rectangular trench was opened in correspondence with the presbytery, part of the nave and the second chapel to the north-east. Excavations in the presbytery revealed part of the latest phase of the church: the tops of the walls delimiting the presbytery to the south and east, the island on which the altar stood, the second sacristy and the steps between the presbytery and nave.

Several patches of floor were uncovered from different phases dating to between the 17th century and 20th century. A number of burials in wooden coffins were identified around the altar. The two excavated contained male individuals, without grave goods, and were dated by the stratigraphy to between the first half of the 17th to the mid 18th century. In both cases, the skeleton was complete and articulated. An underground chamber was identified below the space to the south-west of the presbytery, where the second sacristy was located. About 5 m long, a small part of its barrel vault was preserved in position; the rest was documented by a collapse of bricks. The chamber was filled with dumped earth and only further excavation will provide any answers as to its function, although it was probably a crypt. The excavations in the second chapel on the east side exposed part of the latest floor in white and black cement tiles, abutting the perimeter walls and burials dating to the 17th century.