Three excavations were undertaken prior to the start of work to reorganize the Villa Comunale (public gardens) and re-pave the Abbey of S. Maria. An area of 100 x 7m was investigated, alongside the oratory wall, within the Villa Comunale near to the site where Mario Torelli found the Auguraculum at the end of the 1960s. Excavation revealed evidence of a pit, circa 3m deep, dug during the 18th century when the Cappucine monastery was built. Two cist tombs survived this intervention, covered by large sandstone slabs they had been in continuous use between the mid 6th to mid 5th century B.C. The tomb groups was composed of local pottery and black glaze ware, iron weapons were present in male burials and a female burial produced an amber pendant. Five rooms in the abbey's main building have been investigated. Substantial remains were revealed of an earlier structure that was part of a large, medieval building. This was destroyed between the 12th to 14th centuries and contained large dumps of polychrome, glazed pottery. The structures were partially reused in the foundations of the building which is visible today. These results, despite the limited excavation area, seem to indicate the existence of an earlier abbey, which was completely destroyed. The cause of this destruction is unknown for the moment, but it may be connected to the Saracen raids of the 15th century, cited in historic sources. (Maria Luisa Nava)

An excavation covering circa 1,800 m2 was undertaken as part of the archaeological investigations at Banzi between 2004 and 2006, in the locality of Orto dei Monaci, beside the Abbey of S. Maria, in the town’s historic centre. The investigation looked at a vast area situated immediately north of the _auguraculum_ excavated in the 1960s by M. Torelli. On the western side of the area the baths complex, partially obliterated by the structures of the medieval abbey of S. Maria, was uncovered. On the eastern side the structures of a large _domus_ were revealed. Both faced towards the area occupied by the _auguraculum_ via a _porticus_ which in turn faced onto the main road crossing the city on an east-west alignment. Together these structures suggest that this was a public area, perhaps the _forum_ of the Roman city. Ten rooms of the bath complex were excavated, in some of which the first construction phase of late Republican date was documented. The _calidarium, tepidarium_ and entrance hall were identified. Already in the first construction phase a mosaic inscription was positioned in the entrance. The inscription names an individual, probably a priest, a member of the tribe _Camilia_, who undertook an act of euergetism to the advantage of the community of Banzi by building the _balnea_, either public or private, using his own money: [---]OMANIVS M. F. CAM. SACERDOS, BALNEA EX SVA PECVNIA FACIVNDA CVRAVIT The inscription was inserted in the pavement of rhomboidal clay tiles arranged in a herring-bone pattern. A road probably separated the _balnea_ from the nearby and contemporary _domus_, which at the end of the 1st century B.C. was enlarged to incorporate the baths in a single large complex. The _domus_, occupied continuously until the 3rd century A.D., had an entrance on the south side defined by a series of _tabernae_ which opened onto the porticus. Its position between the baths and the _auguraculum_ suggest that it may have had a public function.