The archaeological mission of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” at Lavinium has restarted in 2005 the excavations on the indigenous sanctuary of Sol Indiges. This latter was commemorated by the ancients as the place of Aenea’s landing.

Two trenches were opened: one on the left bank of the paleo-riverbed of the canal linking the lake to the sea (Area 1), the other on the right bank, at the centre of a large artificial terrace platform (Area 2).

The first trench revealed the baths of a villa of Imperial date (2nd -4th century A.D.). The complex was laid out on several levels and appeared separated from the rest of the residence by an ambulatory with an opus spicatum pavement. The heated rooms had various pools with the remains of marble decoration and were fed by a small cistern added after the construction of the building.

The second trench revealed the remains of a large temple building, preserved just in foundation, in which it was proposed to recognize a peripteral sine posticio plan with a peprino wall built in opera quadrata. The low podium was tetrastyle, areostilo, with a double line of columns on the front. To the large stairway giving access to the front correspond two small staircases at the back, whose presence can be explained by the temple’s off-centre position with respect to the platform that delimited the sanctuary area. This area can be reconstructed as having three sides, perhaps with porticoes, formed by sequences of rooms, with one open side on the edge of which stood the actual cult building. There was an open area behind the temple used for ritual functions; the two famous altars of “Trojan construction” mentioned by Dionysius of Halicarnassus may have been situated here.

The structure uncovered can be dated to the mid Republican period (4th-3rd century B.C.) even though amongst the finds were fragments of acroteria, architectural slabs and antefixes datable to the end of the 6th century B.C., which confirm the presence of an earlier structure that was obliterated by the restructuring of the sanctuary. The decorative schemes documented by terracotta slabs of the Campanian type, show that restoration work was undertaken at least until the Augustan period.

During the early Imperial period the area surrounding the building was restructured: the ground level was raised, probably due to frequent flooding from the coastal lake by which the sanctuary stood and a wall in opus reticulatum was built all around the area.