The 2010 campaign on the Roman villa at Collesecco began forty years after the excavations which uncovered the complex (Santangelo 1969, 1970, 1972). As it appeared the site seemed to cover an area of circa 40 × 40 m, however the latest investigations showed that the villa covered a much larger area. The cleaning and analysis of the sections of terrain delimiting the structures excavated in the past revealed the presence of more rooms of which patches of mosaic were found. The evidence also revealed a prolonged occupation period (until at least the 6th century A.D), well beyond the main construction phase dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D., and also an earlier phase of 3rd-1st century B.C. date.

The structures visible at present comprise about thirty rooms, including an atrium, reception room, colonnaded peristyle and baths. From the time of its discovery the villa’s importance was made clear by certain aspects: the organisation of its layout, the mosaics (left in situ) and the find of numerous terracotta architectural decorations.

The 2010-2011 campaigns saw the partial excavation of the north-south cryptoporticus, one of the two forming the villa’s substructures., In contact with the opus signinum floor of the corridor, this investigation uncovered at least two dolia used for the conservation of dry foodstuffs. The rim of one bore the stamp M. COTTAE, already known from previous excavations, thus confirming a link between the toponym Cottanello and the building.