In 2016, the excavation inside the cult building was extended in order to clarify the function of a wall identified at the edge of the excavation. The enlargement of the trench area revealed the repair of a floor surface that probably occurred after the church was abandoned.

Excavation also continued in the sector next to the apse where the discovery of a burial in 2015 suggested the necropolis levels had been reached. The removal of the layers down to natural, constituted by travertine bedrock, instead revealed the presence of at least two pre-existing walls. In fact, both in the northern perimeter and in the apse foundations two walls were identified that were different in construction technique and orientation, clear evidence of their earlier date. So far, it has not been possible to establish their form or function. The most surprising element is the total absence of burials, suggesting the cemetery area was situated exclusively outside the church and that the burial inside it was as isolated example probably dating to the post-abandonment phases of the building. The deepening of the excavation also exposed all the perimeter walls and their foundations, which is fundamental for researching the construction technique and organisation of the building site.

Traces of structures abutting the church had emerged during a first cleaning of the area immediately adjacent to it, suggesting the area was used over a long period. Therefore, it was decided to excavate in a small quadrangular room, interpreted in published material as the bell-tower, in order to identify the stratigraphic sequence and the structure’s function and use. The excavation of this small area brought to light numerous sarcophagus fragments, none in primary deposition, attesting the existence of the cemetery area immediately outside the church. Interesting considerations can be made regarding the stone fragments, which a preliminary study suggests seem to substantially pre-date the Romanesque church. In particular, an inscription seems to date to a phase that is no later than the 4th century A.D. The excavation also showed walls that appear to belong to completely different phases. Although sarcophagi were found, there were no in situ burials, the large amount of anthropological remains recovered seem to have been disturbed and moved, presumably because of the site’s long use.