This campaign, undertaken between 2009 and September 2010, concentrated exclusively on the pars rustica and fructuaria, continuing previously begun investigations and also opening new areas.

Excavation of room 25 was completed, the first phase room above which, in the Antonine period, the rectangular peristyle was built. This was a square room covering an area of 85 m2, of which the original cobbled floor was also uncovered. A narrow drain on a north-east/south-west alignment, 8.5 m long, lined with tiles laid flat with the raised flanges facing upwards, was connected to the room.

The start of excavations in room 44, the corridor along the western side of the peristyle, revealed a circular structure (diameter 2.10 m), bordered by large to medium un-worked limestone blocks, and filled only with partially or totally calcified stones. The nature of the fill suggests this feature was related to lime production, which was undertaken using stone building materials recovered in loco. The circular structure may be interpreted as a limekiln to be associated with the nearby lime-slaking tank (2.90 × 1.80 m), which abutted the structure itself.

A lacus and three pithoi used for oil production during the villa’s Augustan phase were uncovered in room 46. The lacus was square (1.60 × 1.60 m, 1.68 m deep) and its sides were faced with a layer of opus signinum. There was a settling-well in its floor. In the east side of the lacus there was a drainage imbrex which ensured the flow of liquid from nearby room 19, which was probably where the press was housed. The presence of the press was attested by the postholes which cut the opus signinum floor. Therefore, rooms 46 and 19 constituted a functional unit where olives or grapes were pressed and the liquid obtained collected, via the imbrex, in the lacus. Once settling had occurred then the liquid was removed and stored in the pithoi.

These were situated along the north and south sides of the room and pithos n. 1 (max. Diam. 1.23 m, depth 1.20 m) was the best preserved. It was inserted in a sheath of waterproof mortar (35-45 cm thick) and the body presented numerous fractures which had been repaired in antiquity using lead ties.

A new excavation area (35 × 5 m) was opened on the west side, bringing the total excavation area to 2,300 m2. In the new area what was probably the western perimeter wall of the pars urbana was uncovered, together with five new rooms (49, 56, 61, 62, 63), square in plan, which closed the residential quarter to the west.

Evidence for later, sporadic occupation of the site, included a burial – tomb 25 – found in the north zone. This earth grave, overlaying the latest layers of collapse, contained an infant buried in a supine position. The grave goods comprised a pair of bronze earrings with triangular section, and a button, both decorated with short, slanted incisions, and a small iron punch.

The excavations at the villa of Baricelle have produced a great number of finds, among which a silver anthropomorphic belt point; the terminal of a bronze belt with a clinched nail at one end; a large bronze pin, the head decorated with short incisions; a bone comb with “dice-eye” decoration.

Excavations are to continue in the new, extended area, in order to gain a better understanding of the layout and function of this complex.