Since 2007, our excavations concentrate on the West side of the forum. Three rooms, organised according to the regular plan of the colony (module of 5,5 x 11 m) are backed up against a large sewer at the foot of a terrace wall. On the terrace is a street (the Via Nova), partially excavated in 2007. In front of these rooms runs a portico which separates them from the Via Valeria and the forum proper. The Northernmost room was excavated in 1960 by J.Ch. Balty. The central room, which occupies two modules, is covered with a white mosaic and is flanked on both sides by three Corinthian columns. It may have been a banquet hall for the magistrates of the city or the members of a collegium. The third room is the most complex and has been the object of investigation during the last three campaigns. Its floor and lower walls are covered with marble. On the western side, it ends with an apse and must therefore have been a small sanctuary (sacellum). Beyond the apse is a well which was excavated in 2010. In 2011, our efforts concentrated on the portico in front of the third room. A white fresco painted with red letters had fallen onto the floor. Its surface had then been roughened with a pick to apply a second fresco. This new surface, more fragile, still presents traces of colour. The multiple layers as well as the fragmentary and chaotic structure of the fallen fresco made it particularly delicate to excavate. All the fragments were removed and the cleaning of the biggest one revealed that the text painted on the wall is a religious and legal calendar of the city (fasti). Below the fresco, the portico was covered with a white mosaic with a black geometric decoration and limited on either side by a stone border creating a “carpet” in front of this room. During the 2011 campaign, a team led by O. Vrielinck mapped an important part of the sewer system that runs beneath the city. They also drew sections and detailed maps of specific areas of the sewers.

During the 2012 campaign, the last square of the apsidal “Marble room” has been excavated, allowing us to check the stratigraphic sequence. Important material has been found, among which a high-quality fresco fragment representing a complex vegetal composition painted on a Pompeian red surface, and more than a hundred coins, most of them dating from the 4th century AD. The northern wall of the “Columnar Hall”, partly covered by painted plaster seen in 2007, could finally be laid bare thanks to the collaboration of a conservator’s team. What remains of the fresco is structured in four panels, alternatively horizontal (red) and vertical (yellow). These represent thymiateria with ribbons alternating with a dolphin and a kètos. A date ranging between the middle of the 2nd and the end of the 3rd century AD seems likely. The plaster has been cleaned, solidified and protected for in situ conservation. The plain white mosaic floor of the room has been completely laid bare and cleaned to allow conservation by a specialist team. It shows numerous restorations and traces of fire. The team has begun the cleaning, conservation, reassembling and drawing of the hundreds of fragments of the painted plaster found last year on the portico floor. The whole composition must have been quite big, ca 4 m. wide and 3 m. high. The upper part is a calendar (post Julian), the lower part a list of names (fasti). The epigraphical analysis will be conducted by Cesare Letta. Other studies on the material pursued this year include the frescoes found in the “Columnar Hall” (Céline Devillers), the marble fragments of the “Marble Room” (Cécile Evers), the ceramic material from the well (filled in around 30-50 AD) and from the “Marble Room” (Fabienne Vilvorder). The verification and completion of the excavation plans were done by Soline Delcros. Olivier Vrielynck and his team continued their exploration of the sewer system, mapping and drawing the different canals leading to the main drain.

A trial trench was dug in the western part of the “Columnar Hall”, allowing the discovery of the original dividing wall’s foundation: this large hall had been created by destroying this partition between two rooms of identical dimensions that adopted the module used in the 3rd century BC, subsequent to the foundation of the colony in 303 BC. These rooms on the forum are constructed according to the same module as the tabernae downtown; the same module is also used in the colony of Paestum. This trench also revealed the transformation of the back wall, cut back in order to allow the proportion of the “Columnar Hall” to become almost square, like a real Vitruvian Corinthian oecus. The laying of the mosaic floor seems contemporary with this huge makeover: the oecus was decorated with grand Corinthian columns which originally supported a vault covering the middle of the banqueting hall. The portico in front of the “Columnar Hall” has been partially excavated; however, no further mosaic floor and no more fragments of the Fasti Albenses were discovered. A quadrangular structure in opus latericium (120 x 100 cm), found on the left side of the entrance of the room, may have been an altar or a statue base. A slightly larger than life-size marble hand and three of its fingers were found nearby. No traces were discovered of the column base of the portico colonnade corresponding to the original dividing wall. A complex structure of large architectural blocks was unearthed at the forum side of the portico (East); this structure probably sustained the weight of the higher placed portico and supported the steps leading to it. The portico and its architectural link with the Via del Miliario and the forum still pose a problem: the situation differs from place to place. Only a complete clearing of the zone will allow us to better understand the situation. The conservation team has worked on the largest plaque (AF.197.19-22) of the Fasti Albenses in order to have it displayed at the Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme) during the exhibition Rivoluzione Augusto. L’imperatore che riscrisse il tempo e la città (16 December 2014 – 2 June 2015). New connections between fragments of the Fasti Albenses were discovered by Cesare Letta and Anja Stoll. Céline Devillers has continued her study of the figurative frescoes and Soline Delcros has made photogrammetric recordings of the main architectural elements (capitals and columns) and of the walls of both rooms. Olivier Vrielynck and his team continued their exploration of the sewer system, mapping and drawing the different canals leading to the main drain. They have to date explored more than 140 m of them.