The Ostia Marina Project came into being in 2007 as part of an agreement stipulated between Bologna University’s Department of Archaeology and the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activity, on the initiative of Massimiliano David and Angelo Pellegrino. In that year, the first archaeological exploration in the area of Porta Marina and the first campaign of documentation and study in the archives of the Archaeological Superintendency for Ostia Antica began. In 2008, surface and geophysical surveys took place in order to investigate the site’s potential. In the first instance, the area’s topography was documented and a micro-survey of the area, which covers about 3.000 m2, was made. It was also possible to check and record in section the depth and nature of the site’s stratigraphy, which preserves not only the Roman and late Roman levels, but also the abandonment layers from the subsequent period.

In 2009, the surface layers (humus and plough soil) were removed, which provided a first general picture of the structures present on the site. In 2010, more of the emerging structures were uncovered, but above all two trenches were opened that led to the identification of a building unknown to date, which can be added to the series of Ostia’s bath buildings. Based on the numerous brick stamps and other elements, the building seems to date to the late Hadrianic period and to have remained in use for about two hundred years until at least the 4th century A.D. A fragment of a frieze with Dionysiac masks led to the complex being named the ‘Terme del Sileno’. The 2011 campaign notably increased knowledge of the public baths of Silenus and also increased understanding of the robbing techniques used at Ostia in the modern period (15th-18th century).

In 2012, the large mosaic floor in one of the rooms of the baths was completely uncovered. Important elements emerged that were of use for calculating the marine progradation and how the beach was used in the early imperial period. In 2013, research on the baths continued but in 2014 attention moved to a new building that emerged along the west side of the via della Marciana (opposite the large Porta Marina baths). This was the ‘Caupona del dio Pan’, which underwent a particular transformation during the 4th century A.D. Between 2015 and 2016, further elements were discovered regarding the development of the quarter and the buildings with a long occupation such as the ‘Caseggiato’ with two staircases, which considerably increased knowledge of the development of bath complexes during the second half of the 4th century A.D. The so-called Baths of the Skeleton, a small complex that functioned for a few decades and stood on the via Severiana, has become one of the central topics of the research. In 2017, the research continued by investigating other crucial points in the quarter. The results contributed to significantly redefining the chronologies of the Baths of the Marciana and Baths of Musiciolus. It was also possible to date the restructuring of the quarter ordered by the Emperor Hadrian, which led to the abandonment of the monumental necropolis of Porta Marina, to the years following 134 A.D.