The archaeological project at Aeclanum aims to gain a better understanding of the history of this important inland Roman town, using interdisciplinary methods involving, in addition to excavation, architectural survey, geophysical survey, archeo-botany and osteology. The site owes its fortune to its strategic position, along the via Appia, in the territory of the Hirpini, midway between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic. The city, although having the potential to become a case study for multidisciplinary research, as it is almost entirely preserved without the presence of modern houses, has only been partially investigated to date and little is known of its urban development and relationship with the surrounding landscape.

For now, the new project concentrates on four areas: (A) area of the monumental structure previously interpreted as a nymphaeum; (B) the large bath complex, (C) the residential area at the centre of the city, (D) public area with the macellum. The results in area A show how this building was rather the city’s theatre (the first to be excavated in Hirpinia), built in the 1st century A.D. and widely robbed from the 4th century onwards. In area B, a series of 4th century A.D. alterations to the earlier bath complex were identified: a new mosaic floor, which was completely uncovered and restored, and a room with an opus sectile floor covered by volcanic deposits attributable to the eruption of Vesuvius in 472 A.D. In area C, a collapsed structure was excavated. The sort of collapse and the materials associated with the deposits suggest it could be associated with one of the 4th century A.D. earthquakes, known from the literary and epigraphic sources. In area D, geophysical survey and excavations uncovered not only another part of the macellum, but also identified a large paved open area; probably the forum.

The geophysical survey covered a considerable area, about four hectares and, in addition to the forum, revealed the presence of a second bath complex, several houses, part of the theatre, and a main road, perhaps the via Appia which crossed the city in antiquity.