The large cavern in the sanctuary of the Madonna at Praia a Mare is part of an imposing karstic system, which in the Meso-Cenozoic period formed in the dolomitic limestone of a cliff, remodelled by the sea during the middle and upper Pleistocene eras. In 2004-2008, excavations were undertaken by the Superintendency of the “Luigi Pigorini” National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography in Rome, directed by Vincenzo Tiné and Antonio Tagliacozzo. The new excavation investigated the Neolithic levels. The trench covered an area of 4 × 4.5 m (22 m2), situated along the south-eastern side of the area investigated during the 1960s by Luigi Cardini for the Institute of Human Paleontology in Rome. The Neolithic levels in this trench belonged to occupation phases dating to the middle Neolithic period (Passo di Corvo, Capri and Serra d’Alto facies), corresponding with a yellowish-grey clay deposit, covered by a series of striped sediments, formed by alternating reddish or blackish sandy silt soils, and concretionary or soft limestone levels. The lower part of the sequence coincided with sporadic occupation in the Late Neolithic (Diana facies) and Final Neolithic (Spatarella facies), while the upper part was formed by an equally sporadic Early Eneolithic occupation (Piano Conte facies). Several hearths, interventions of land reclamation and a combustion structure formed by a depression and stones similar to the ones found in the Grotta di Saracena were present in the lower levels of the Neolithic sequence (mid Early Neolithic, Passo di Corvo facies).

Several small postholes cut into the Mesolithic layer and were probably those noted by Bernabò Brea. However, they seemed to relate to fragile structures for housing small domestic animals rather than permanent stabling. The pottery provided little useful data, given that the quantity recovered from these layers, from both the old and new excavations, was very limited. However, a programme of systematic dating, undertaken in collaboration with CEDAD at Lecce University and the analyses of the biological remains have notably advanced knowledge of the natural environment and Neolithic settlement on the Tyrrhenian coast of northern Calabria.