The fill from the large, 17th century ditch was completely removed. The ditch cut the semi-interred rooms of the Neronian complex abutting the north-eastern slope of the Palatine. The excavation of this stratigraphy documented the late antique (abandonment at the end of the 5th century) and early medieval (collapses in the 9th-10th century) phases of these rooms, which together with the small temple, were part of the restored Curiae Veteres in the Flavian period. The phases of occupation of the entire insula were also investigated, documented by a succession of paved floors and beaten earth surfaces which in the 3rd and 4th century replaced those of the 2nd and 1st century. The excavation of the medieval robber trenches, also cut by the 17th century ditch, provided new data about the layout of these structures. What emerged was a complex that between the Flavian period and late antiquity saw its main parts demolished and rebuilt, the construction of dividing walls and reinforcing piers and reductions in door apertures. The discovery of the foundations of the rooms constructed in a comb-shaped arrangement downhill from the late Republican/Augustan domus (investigated during previous campaigns) confirmed the hypothesis that they were part of the Augustan or Julio-Claudian phase of the sanctuary of the Curiae Veteres, which burnt down in 64 A.D. Following the fire, the Neronian builders demolished the walls, undercut and repaired the pre-existing foundations and built a new network of structures.

Area III

The eastern strip of the area, looking onto the Piazza del Colosseo, was investigated. In the northern sector, following the removal of the early and mid imperial levels, important structures relating to the sanctuary of the Curiae Veteres were revealed, including at least two rooms, one paved in opus scutulatum and the other in black mosaic. A third space, paved in opus spicatum, opened towards the Piazza del Colosseo and was probably open-air (exedra?). In the southern sector, a metalworking structure, datable to between the 5th and 6th century, came to light below the medieval abandonment layers. Inside, work surfaces and circular pits and small holes for the installation of small furnaces and were preserved. The installation was built directly on top of the massive Neronian dump post-dating the fire of 64 A.D. and was preceded by the robbing of the imperial paving date, dating to between the 1st and 4th century A.D. Structures relating to the ancient Curiae were also identified in this sector.

Area IV (so-called Baths of Elagabalus)

The investigations looked at the western sector of the courtyard and the rooms alongside the late antique exedra, whose function as a stibadium/fountain is now clear. Next to them, the remains of two superimposed huts, datable respectively to the Laziale IIIB (circa 800-720 B.C.) and IIIA (circa 850-800 B.C.) were identified. In the late Republican and early imperial periods, the eastern half of the complex saw the enlargement of the domus frontage with the tabernae facing onto the valley-forum road (investigated in previous campaigns), and in the western half the construction of two new insulae. All of these buildings were destroyed in the 64 A.D. fire. New perimeter walls of the Hadrianic horreum, demolished in the Severan period, emerged across the western area. Three new piers, completing the series on the northern front of the substructures, were uncovered. The excavation of the calidarium of the late antique baths, which developed at the western end, was completed and two new praefurnia were identified. To the east of the baths, in the area characterized by the apse delimiting the stibadium /fountain, the reused marble floors of the north and south triclinii were exposed. The archaic well situated in the area in front of the stibadium /fountain, reused in the late antique period with the addition of masonry steps, was almost completely emptied, thanks to help from the Roma Sotteranea Association. A dolium was recovered from the well, which was part of a device installed in the late antique period. A lime-kiln, datable to the 10th century, was uncovered in the room on the northern side of the stibadium /fountain.