This work was undertaken in order to investigate a representative sample of the structures, situated at the centre of the site, and still demarcated by the remains of an ancient monumental building known locally as “Il Castellaccio”. During the first season (2007) two trenches were opened (A and B) in correspondence with the geophysical results obtained by Keay et al. These trenches confirmed the presence of the ancient buildings and, on the basis of the materials in the surface deposits, confirmed that the site was occupied for about 1200 years.

During the 2010 season excavations continued in area B and it was extended with the aim of clarifying the functions and chronology of the late Roman complex excavated in previous years. Given that it was protected, at least in part, by material dumped following the site’s abandonment, it was still in a very good state of preservation. Following the enlargement of area B by 2 m towards the west and 2m to the north, it became fairly clear that the structure includes the remains of two parallel rooms. The room on the south side was part of a baths, paved with terracotta slabs (very well-preserved and probably originally below a hypocaust). The northern room (not completely excavated) overlay a wide tufa wall of early imperial date, which crossed the trench on a south-west alignment. This wall seemed to be part of a large podium construction including at least one other wall on a north-east alignment, a fact which may indicate that this was a monumental a cellae construction. This structure had deep foundations that were easily datable thanks to the substantial quantity of pottery found. To date where it has been possible to excavate below the level of the later structures (a difficult task given the latter’s very good state of preservation) large paving slabs of hard tufa have come to light, part of the imperial complex. Some remains of this same floor was also identified in trench A (south of the present excavation area) and on the same level. This suggests that this was a complex, probably public, built on the highest part of the ancient town around the mid 1st century A.D.

Therefore, with the late Roman complex, this monumental structure constitutes a very interesting discovery to be placed along side other examples of public building found in the 1930s in the eastern part of the ‘Civitucola’. It now appears clear that ancient Capena continued to flourish despite its proximity to Lucus Feroniae.

Together the Roman phases constitute an unprecedented result at Capena and will make a very significant contribution to the understanding of the history of ancient urbanisation in central Italy. In addition, the large quantity of artefacts ( and their excellent state of preservation) will shed light on the dating of regional and local material culture ( mainly pottery and metal artefacts) which will be of great importance for future archaeological research in this part of Italy. Furthermore, the preservation of organic material will facilitate the analysis of floral and faunal remains, to which little attention in has generally been paid in central Italian archaeology. Of particular interest among the finds recovered during the last campaign are the architectural terracottas found in a fill, dating to diverse periods.