Work on the modernization of Piazza Vittorio brought to light a brick façade of alternating rectangular and semicircular niches, preserved for circa 60m in the direction of via Ricasoli. The substantial remains of structures for which the construction technique and the nature of the stratigraphy give a chronology which runs from the second half of the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. were also revealed. These structures probably relate to the Horti Lamiae and Maecenae, part of the vast property that belonged to the gens Lamia and Maecenae, and became part of the Imperial estates, undergoing various transformations until being finally abandoned in the late antique period. The abandonment is attested by the poor quality of the repairs carried out on the walls and the middens scattered across the area investigated.
At the same time a part of the Esquiline necropolis described by Horace was uncovered. This area was subjected to land reclamation by Maecenas. The thirteen burials recorded (either in sarcophagi or in “a cassa” tombs cut into the tufa) constitute a significant portion of the necropolis, especially the ”dark” phase of the decades at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 5th centuries B.C. It should also be noted that on the short side of the excavation, in the direction of via dello Statuto, an assemblage of miniature vases was found in context. This find suggests precise chronological parameters and ideas about production areas and methods. (Mariarosaria Barbera)