The archaeological site of Italica>presents numerous treasures in the sight of any occasional visitor. It has important architectural landmarks, such as the amphitheatre , whose western sector has just been rehabilitated and reopened to the public; The impressive mosaics, such as those of the Birds House; and imposing sculptures like the colossal Trajan divinized .
Other treasures kept by this Roman city, founded in 206 B.C. by Cornelius Scipio and in which the Trajan emperors were born and Adrian , are waiting underground for the works of archaeologists to be brought to light.
In fact, more than 50% of the surface of the city of Italica is to be excavated and the area in which the so-called Adriannean quarter is located, where the highest Baetic aristocracy had its houses and most of which has yet to be dug up.
In spite of the much that remains to be done in Italica, the archeological excavations in the Baetic city go through a sweet moment, unknown only a few years ago, with active projects on the part of the University of Seville and the Universidad Pablo de Olavide.
To the first of them belongs the project known as "Nova Urbs Hadriani", directed by the professor of the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology Sebastián Vargas . The work of this team focuses on the so-called "palestra" of the major hot springs , an area that has not been excavated to date and that conserves one of the enigmas that most interest archaeologists: how was the huge building that housed these hot springs.
Previous work revealed the existence of a large quadrangular building with large exedra porticoes, similar to those of the nearby "Traineum", the temple dedicated to Emperor Trajan by his successor Hadrian.
This excavation is in addition to those carried out since June 2017 by the Archaeological Seminar of the Pablo de Olavide University (UPO) at the Casa de Cañada Honda and the late antique wall of the ruins of Itálica. Its director is the professor of Archaeology at the UPO Rafael Hidalgo.
With respect to the wall, excavations have shown the levels of destruction and looting of its surroundings, as well as the location of an area used as a cemetery, where children's graves have been found.
The defensive wall was thought to have been built at the end of the 3rd century or the beginning of the 4th, although recent data suggest that it was built during the time of the Visigoth monarch.
More interesting, according to the memory of this research, is the Casa de la Cañada Honda , which has in its courtyard a bed of banquets called "stibadium", which is one of the best preserved examples of this type of structure in the Iberian Peninsula.
