Preliminary underwater archaeological investigations were carried out on the seaward side of Venice Lido, led by Udine University under the direction of the Archaeological Superintendency for Venice and the Lagoon, and with the collaboration of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (USA). The investigations concentrated on the area in front of the San Nicoletto beach where the wreck is situated.

The new underwater site was identified in late spring 2021 during a survey carried out by the Guardia di Finanza-Venice Naval Base, followed by an inspection carried out by the Superintendency in collaboration with experts from Udine University. This determined the presence of a previously unknown wreck. The remains lay at a depth of between 4.5 and 6 m on a sandy sea floor at c. 1,250 m from the San Nicoletto beach and 1,050 m from the breakwater of the San Nicolò lighthouse, which delimits the south-western mouth of Venice Lido.

The excavations, which also made use of logistic support from the Carabinieri – Nucleus for the protection of Cultural Patrimony, Venice and divers from Genoa – and the IDRA company, Venice, lasted for 10 days and partially exposed the wooden hull and its cargo of stone. The ship’s framework was still perfectly and solidly connected for a length of not less than 19 m, from the north-western end, interpretable as the bow, to the trench edge in the opposite direction along the ship’s axis. The observed maximum width of the hull is c. 3.5 m, but it probably extends beyond the stone blocks that were the ship’s cargo. A small number of ceramic and glass fragments were recovered, which are useful for the chronology and can be interpreted as the crew’s personal belongings. Some dating was provided by a fragment of a base in Bohemian porcelain made by the Schaggenwald pottery, presents a coat of arms in use from 1867 onwards, and a colourless glass phial with printed letters once containing Melissa dei C. Scalzi di Venezia (a herbal remedy made from the lemon-balm plant by monks), which dates to 1877 onwards.

The find area close to the mouth of the Lido, in addition to the type of cargo, suggest that the wreck of San Nicoletto is what remains of a brigantine dating to the late 1800s, probably with two masts and an estimated tonnage of 100/120 tonnes that was carrying its cargo of stone to Venice, if not to the mouth of the Lido itself, which in that period of time was undergoing large-scale transformation.