In 2014, new excavations took place inside and outside the church of S. Martino situated on the edge of the high ground towards the west, just inside the Porta dell’Acropoli that opens in the ancient walls.

The nave was completely exposed, the floor area being cleared of the numerous structural and architectural components abutting the curtain wall downhill. Patches of the original paved floor were revealed in addition to more extensive areas of the make-up levels of mortar mixed with minute fragments of inert materials. The documentation and survey of a substantial part of the structural and architectural elements of the complex was completed, in practice the 230 that were removed to expose the floor. Of these, 187 were individually documented in an extremely detailed manner with the aim of creating a textured 3D model at 1:1. The final objective is to create a virtual reconstruction of the church but is also functional to the correct re-composition and placing in situ of most of the original components.

At the same time, the original perimeter walls were exposed by freeing them of the chaotic piles of stones resulting from hasty excavations undertaken last century. This resulted in a new configuration and dimensions of the walls and a new and definitive plan of the entire complex, of which a photogrammetry survey was also made.

The area outside the church and the quarry front up against which the church is built were freed of vegetation in order to recreate an environment coherent with the original setting of the structure.

Work was also undertaken on the south front of the medieval town wall. A long stretch of the wall and a projecting round tower were uncovered, structures that are usually ignored by literature and only known from a controversial and inaccurate cartography. The wall is narrow and built with a double facing of small limestone blocks bonded with mortar in the stretch west of the wall. On the other side of the tower, the construction technique is the same but the wall bends noticeably towards the east-south-east. At its centre, the tower projects from the walls and may relate to the presence of an entrance, although not identified by the excavation, according to what has been documented in the northern section of the wall. The tower was connected to the walled structures behind it by a structure with a distinctive polygonal plan, perhaps to create a solid link with the service rooms and to guarantee rapid access to the tower from the interior of the settlement.

To the rear of the town wall there was an intricate network of residential structures. The walls had double facings, similar to the technique used for the curtain wall, and formed very small rooms with regular plans which cut the terrain so as to form a series of terraced levels.