Rescue excavations during the building of the Amba Aradam-Ipponio station of the line C underground in Rome began in 2015. The construction site lies at c. 15 m outside the Aurelian walls. The excavations, preceded by preliminary research (core sampling, archive work), revealed a stratigraphic sequence datable to between the mid-Republican period and the modern era making it possible to reconstruct the occupation and abandonment phases of a sector of the suburbio that is largely unexplored. The excavations covered an area of c. 3,300 m2 to a depth of c. 30 m below the level of the road, down to sterile. The most interesting structure was a military complex of Trajanic date, completed during Hadrian’s reign, built on an area part of which had been levelled using building rubble deposited on the ground surface.

The barracks of Trajanic-Hadrianic date – unknown from the ancient sources – comprised a building 80 m long for housing troops and two perpendicular structures: the so-called House of the Commander and the service wing. The military complex, the structures covering 1300 m2 – followed the original orography of the terrain, which sloped downwards to the north towards the Aqua Crabra, and was built on terraces, thus the soldiers’ quarters are at -9 m and the wings at -12 m).