The total-coverage geophysical prospection (magnetometry) carried out over the whole urban area of Interamna Lirenas had made it possible to identify not only the main settlement layout, but also relevant monumental features within it. Most prominent of all, next to the forum, was a theatre. This discovery prompt a serious reconsideration of the nature and importance of the settlement, especially since the absence of any archaeological feature hinting to the presence of this kind of building had been taken by our predecessors as a sign of the secondary nature of the town.

The 2013 (6×20m) test trench had already verified (a) the close correspondence between the excavated structures and the plan produced through geophysical prospection and (b) the remarkably good state of the buried archaeology (although little was preserved above floor level). The excavation of foundations also made it possible to date the building to the second half of the I century BC, a date which is fully compatible with the building technique employed.

In 2014 the trench was further extended by way of another perpendicular section (23×13m) encompassing portions of the cavea, the orchestra and the scaena. The excavation yielded important details that also help appreciate the post-abandonment phases of the building and its state of preservation.
First and foremost, the floor of the orchestra is yet to be uncovered, despite the fact that our trench has reached a depth of about 1.70m below the surface. Furthermore, although we have identified the wall of the scaena and one of the hospitalia, the floor of the pulpitum itself is yet to be found. All of this suggests that the structure is in fact better preserved in its lowest levels than originally assumed.

As for the scaena wall, whereas the southern face was badly preserved, the northern one yielded extensive in situ remains of frescoes (two sections about 4m in length on each side of the hospitalium). These have not been excavated as it was deemed advisable to carry out this work in the presence of a conservator, something which we have already planned for the 2015 season.

Especially interesting is the evidence we have uncovered for an extensive and systematic spoliation process. Large blocks of limestone, in all likelihood part of the cavea originally, are found displaced and broken up – some even stacked vertically against each other for later processing! The thick layer of debris which fills the cavea appears to have been dug trhough at some point in order to allow access to the structures, in accordance to a practice which is well-attested at the site for the whole modern period (used like an open-air quarry). A preliminary analysis of some of the finds from contexts associated with these activities suggest a medieval origin for at least some of them. The presence of a large magnetic anomaly to the NW (as revealed by earlier magnetometry) taken together with the fact that several of the limestone blocks were smashed seems to suggest the presence of a lime kiln nearby.