Restructuring work was carried out on the “Casa del Turista” (ex Naval School), whose main facade faces onto the inner harbour, on the Regina Margherita promenade. In 2011, excavations took place in the central area of its southern courtyard, as part of a project to restore the entire complex financed by Brindisi town council. The excavations, directed by the Archaeological Superintendency for Apulia, took place in an area already excavated in 1999 and 2000, involved the opening of trial trenches in the central and northern parts of the courtyard.
The occupation phases of this complex, which thanks to its strategic position has played an important role in the town from the Roman period until the present, have been reconstructed from the 2011 excavation data, together with that from the previous excavations,
The earliest remains, dating to the early Roman period, were the structures of a building whose position on the coast suggests it had a commercial function. A destruction phase, documented by layers of collapse, dated to between the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. New structures were created on top of the collapse in which production activities took place, probably metalworking. This suggestion is made based on the presence of bronze slag and coins, as well as pottery dating to the 5th-7th century A.D.

Structures and layers that produced materials datable to between the 13th and 16th centuries documented a medieval occupation phase.

Structural remains relating to a church and inhumation burials found within the courtyard, in which a small cemetery area had been created, also dated to the same period.
Until the 14th century, the history of the site and church was closely linked to the properties and influence of the monastic order of the Knights Templers.