During excavation campaigns in 2005-2006 in the agora of Selinunte, undertaken by German Archaeological Institute in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Trapani, a vast room of Classical date was uncovered in an insula north of the square. From the main road, which ran along the north side of the agora, it was possible to enter this via a wide doorway with double doors. The considerable size of this room and the prestigious entrance suggest the building had a public function in the Classical period. However, the interior’s very poor state of preservation did not provide enough data for a reconstruction of the room’s function in that period. Despite the badly damaged floor, the roof collapse was found almost undisturbed. This unusual situation, especially in the agora area at Selinunte which was repeatedly sacked and restored over the centuries, made it possible to recover and reconstruct an almost entire roof dating to the Classical period. This was a pitched roof, with flat tiles, imbrices and ridge imbrices, greenish and pink in colour and of considerable size and weight. No traces of decoration was found on the roof tiles nor were there any architectural terracottas. This roof in question may be considered a typical covering in the town of the Classical period., much rarer In the excavations at Selinunte fragments of ridge tiles were much rarer than those of flat tiles and pitch tiles, suggesting that pitched roofs were not common in civil architecture. This fact confirms the impression noted above that this building had a public function on the edge of the agora at Selinunte.

In 2021 the Rome Department of the German Archaeological Institute started a new collaborative project on the urban morphology of Selinunte in a spatially comprehensive and diachronic perspective. Its objective is to complement the renowned schematic plan of the archaic and classical Greek city with a multilayered model that also considers the settlements development, gentle transformations and structural breaks through time. This is particularly important in view of the changeful history of the site. The goal is pursued with a combination of survey methods and conservative excavations: - the University of Kiel investigating the overgrown dune located in the central spot between the acropolis and the agora with ground penetrating radar. This area was so far inaccessible to conventional methods. They are also looking at the Modione Valley and the relationship between the city and the river with a multi-sensory approach. - Geoarchaeological sediment coring complements the geophysical investigations and accompanies or precedes the small scale stratigraphic excavations conducted by the German Archaelogical Institute. - The University of Palermo is conducting the first intensive intra-site survey at Selinunte. They are looking at the surface finds in more remote parts of the city to discuss forms of use and utilization phases by evaluating their quantity and quality. - The German archaeological Institute is conducting a series of stratigraphic excavations in areas that received so far less attention, such as the Northern Hill and the Western City. The purpose is to investigate the development of the Greek city, its destructions and subsequent use in different points without focusing on larger complexes or specific functional entities. The results of all these initiatives taken together will add a variety of information to the actual data situation and allow improving our knowledge of the settlements structural and social development through time. The data will be gathered in a Geographic Information System for contextualization and visualization.