In 2005 two new trenches were opened with the aim of continuing the exploration of a drain made of stone blocks which emerged during the 2003-2004 campaign and appeared to form the boundary of a public square in the Roman city. Excavations to the east uncovered, below a medieval re-management of the area, a building of Claudian date of unclear function. The medieval cuts show the lines of its east and west walls in negative. Numerous cuts emerged that can be interpreted as robber trenches for the recovery of building materials. To the south, exploration of the area revealed that the medieval plan had been compromised by robbing in the form of deep trenches dug in order to recover limestone blocks and other stone material from the Roman structures, destined for re-use in new buildings and the city walls. The excavation of these trenches led to the recovery of Roman structures untouched by the robbing. At different points in the area emerged the stone drain bordering the square, Roman floor levels and an _opus signinum_ tank, interpreted as a monumental fountain, open to the north and situated along the south side of the square of which the south, west and east limits were identified. These were formed by small walls of which only the brick and tile foundations survive. An _opus signinum_ pavement decorated with black and white mosaic tesserae was found in the western sector and a mosaic with marble inserts came to light in the eastern sector. Moreover, the foundation wall of the portico surrounding the square in the Roman period was also revealed. Below this, to the south, a wall from an earlier phase was identified. As regards the square, excavation was undertaken towards the centre of the south side. To the south-east the foundations of a large wall were uncovered. This delimited a structure inside the square whose function is unknown. The wall was built when the square already existed and can be attributed to the restoration carried out in the Hadrianic period, as shown by the materials found. After the removal of this Imperial phase the excavation recovered a _dolium_, an intact amphora and three coins of late Republican date. Towards the south west an accumulation of votive objects datable to the Claudian period was found. A phase preceding that of the late Republican period was identified by a floor level made up of large stones and a hearth. (MiBAC)

The 2007 excavations were concentrated within the ample sector explored during the 2005-2006 campaigns, delimited by a monumental channels and monolithic hollowed out blocks for water drainage, connected to a monumental portico of which the entire southern foundation wall was preserved. At the centre of the area the imposing foundations of a temple were uncovered. The entrance faced towards the south-east and the structure measured 7.40 x 11.54 m (25 x 39 Roman feet). The plan was that typical of Roman temples, a cella with colonnaded pronaos at the front. Obviously the cella was destined to house the cult statue, as shown by the discovery of the foundations upon which the statue’s pedestal stood, situated on the main axis of the structure at the centre of the back wall. The investigations, still incomplete, undertaken below this pedestal brought to light animal bones and fragments of burnt pottery probably relating to some sort of ritual. The remains of another votive deposit were explored within the western foundation trench and can probably be related to the construction of the temple’s perimeter walls. This deposit also contained numerous fragments of pottery, lamps, bone and traces of charcoal. On the basis of the pottery finds, which are still to be fully studied, the temple has been dated to the final decades of the 1st century B.C. A stretch of foundation wall belonging to the monumental portico that must have surrounded the cult building also came to light, thus the continuation of the two walls was identified, running parallel to each other on a north-south alignment in front of the temple entrance. At the centre of the trench, in the space between the two walls, an number of large stone blocks were exposed. In the southern corner of the trench there was a line of four large stone blocks. Their arrangement and alignment suggests that they were part of a substantial wall which surrounded the entire sanctuary.

The 2008 excavations looked at the area delimited by the _opus caementicium_ foundation walls of a temple building, uncovered during the 2005-2007 campaigns. The two interior rooms of the building were explored: the “cella”, 7.40 x 6.75 m and the “pronaos”, 4.84 x 7.40 m. The excavation in these areas was deepened in order to get a correct date for the cult building. Following the preliminary surface cleaning of the area, inside the “cella” a homogeneous stratigraphy was identified, characterised by a thin layer of friable reddish soil. This was the upper interface of the late Republican construction layer, unfortunately no traces of the floors survived in the rooms. In the south-eastern corner of the “cella” there was a small badly built dry-stone wall of ashlar blocks of various sizes. This feature had been partially visible in 2007. The function of the various walls identified below the temple floor is still not clear, but the stratigraphical evidence suggests that they may belong to the building underneath the temple whose presence was noted in previous excavation campaigns. The phases relating to the construction site for the temple must have removed and levelled the underlying structures in order to prepare the surface for the floors. The stratigraphy and finds study (still in the preliminary stages) confirm a latest date for the building of around the first years of the 1st century A.D. At the centre of the building’s main room a circular cut 84 cm deep was uncovered. This must have been related to the foundation ritual for the temple. The fill was characterised by a reddish colour and clear traces of burning and it contained a substantial amount of pottery as well as other artefacts and bone fragments. The most likely hypothesis is that this was a sacrificial deposit that was part of a religious ceremony. Inside the votive deposit there were circa forty unguentaria as well as numerous other miniature vases. As well as pottery balsamarii a well preserved iron axe was found at the base of the deposit. Various bronze artefacts were also present including coins and rings. The materials and stratigraphy dated the deposit to the first decades of the 1st century A.D. Furthermore, typological parallels suggest that the temple was dedicated to a female divinity. The excavation and removal of the materials took up most of the 2008 campaign.

Four distinct occupation phases were excavated. The latest (2001-2005 excavations), datable to the beginning of the medieval period, was characterised by the remains of a house with several rooms, facing onto a very well-preserved basalt paved road. The other three phases dated to the late Republican period (mid 1st century B.C.); the early Imperial period (Julio-Claudian era, beginning of the 1st century A.D.) when the area was monumentalised; the mid Imperial period (reign of Hadrian, around the mid 2nd century A.D.). At the present stage of the excavation the best known phase is that of the early Imperial period. This was the phase of the monumental portico (22 x 20.85 m), whose materials were removed in the medieval period to be reused in other constructions. Inside the portico there was a drainage channel made of monolithic blocks which delimited the complex. The investigations inside the area delimited by the drainage channel (2007-2008) revealed the foundations of a temple which constitutes the first urban cult building in Gubbio to be extensively explored. The temple was 7.40 x 11.59 m, with the entrance opening towards the south-east. It was divided into a cella, 7.40 x 6.75 m, preceded by a pronaos with columns, 7.40 x 4.84 m. Only the _opus caementicium_ foundations remained. The conglomerate had been poured into shuttered trenches and the negative impression of the timbers was clearly visible. Nothing remained of the temple walls apart from a fragment of a moulded pedestal made of hard local stone, 2.00 x 0.80 m high, found in a pit by the foundations. The hypothesis that this was a cult building is supported by the discovery in front of the entrance of a votive deposit relating to the construction of the entire complex. This deposit, sealed by a double layer of stones and tile, contained remains of a meal (bone and charcoal), pottery cooking wares and other materials including lamps, amphorae, fine table ware and miniature vases. The study of these materials and the stratigraphical evidence dated the building to the beginning of the 1st century A.D. In 2009 two trenches (10 x 10 m) were opened in the south-eastern sector of the area, close to the eastern corner of the portico. The excavations identified a paved road presumably datable to the beginning of the 1st century A.D. The road, on which cart tracks were clearly visible, was paved with large irregular basoli made of local hard stone. It skirted the north side of the portico and delimited the area of the sanctuary. Future excavations will explore the southern sector of the site with the aim of making a definitive plan of the sacred area.

Every year the evidence emerging from the site adds increasingly important data to what is known about the public-religious complex. The 2010 campaign was one of the most productive of the whole ten year investigation. The aim was to concentrate on furthering knowledge of one of the most important roads of Roman _Iguvium_. The basalt paved road discovered this year, made up of large stone blocks, was the continuation of a road uncovered during previous investigations. The road, about 4 m wide, flanked the north wall of the temple portico and probably headed towards the area of the Roman theatre. An investigation of the road’s foundations showed that it had been constructed following the most canonical instructions given by Roman treatises, thus with the use of four make ups: _statumen_, _rudus_, _nucleus_ and _summum dorsum_. The most important discovery was the identification of the road’s terminal point. This completely unexpected discovery provided new and important data regarding the interpretation of the urban plan of Roman Gubbio. In fact, the Roman roads crossing ancient town were often interrupted on the edge of the public-civic area ( _forum_ ). The edge of the basalt road was marked by a drainage channel into which a conduit flowed, probably linked to a substantial water supply system, yet to be completely excavated and which will be investigated in coming campaigns. The road stopped in the proximity of a closed structure, probably with a monumental entrance, of which the two lateral foundation plinths were still _in situ_. The excavations brought to light the make up, the so-called nucleus made up of lime, gravel and iron slag, on which was laid a rich flooring of limestone slabs. Traces remained of two of the structure’s walls, probably faced with plaster and polychrome marble slabs ( _crustae_ ). Such evidence suggests this was a very richly decorated building, situated at the end of the road and therefore at the beginning of the public area. The excavation also investigated sectors of the Guastuglia archaeological area. In fact, it was decided to undertake further investigations of a sector of the sanctuary excavated in 2007, corresponding to the eastern entrance to the portico surrounding the temple. The most precious finds and those with the greatest historic-artistic value came to light in this area, including a small marble sacrificial altar and a bronze surgical instrument, finely-decorated and extremely well-preserved. Numerous well-preserved bronze coins were also found, datable to the first centuries of the Roman Empire. The 2010 campaign also saw the renewal of investigations in the _Domus_ della Guastuglia, a structure characterized by rich mosaic decoration, already partially explored during the 1970s by the Archaeological Superintendency of Umbria. During the excavation phases the substantial remains of a corridor, paved in _opus signinum_ with mosaic decoration and plaster faced walls, emerged.

After a break of some years, the University of Perugia resumed archaeological research at Gubbio in the Roman quarter of the Guastuglia. The excavations were directed by Prof. Gian Luca Grassigli, in agreement with the local authorities and the Archaeological Superintendency for Umbria. The area chosen for the investigation, a 20 x 20 m square, was situated immediately south of the so-called Domus del Banchetto (about 10 m away), in a slightly raised area that had not been previously investigated. The excavations uncovered a vast complex formed by four rectangular rooms, whose investigation raised many questions and provided important evidence for the historical and planimetric reconstruction of the building. At this stage in the research, it is possible to distinguish several occupation phases and internal restructuring, strictly connected to the historical monument’s main developments. The latest phases were attested by levels showing sporadic occupation. The structure was divided into four rooms each characterised by layers with a soil matrix containing materials that varied both in type and date. The second occupation phase, characterised by the presence of four distinct rooms, presented specific peculiarities, with clear evidence of restructuring and spatial reorganisation. At this stage of the excavations, the plans of rooms 1 and 3 appear to have remained unaltered, while room 2 was reduced in size. In fact, wall USM 14 = 15 was built on an east-west alignment at a right angle to walls USM 11 and USM 13 in order to create a closed quadrangular room in the southernmost part of the complex. A threshold, US 27, for the entrance into this room was built on wall USM 16, the southern wall of the room. In phase III, the layout of the structure appears less organised. Room 3 remains unchanged, while rooms 1, 2, and 4 become one large room bordered to the west by wall USM 13 and to the south by wall USM 16, with a central dividing wall, USM 11. The floors were formed by an earthy-clay matrix and compact cobblestones. In phase IV, the plan remained unaltered, only the floor levels changed.