The long Vicolo della Fullonica, along insulae 5 and 7 of Regio VI was excavated between September 2004 and June 2006.
The excavation was undertaken in correspondence with the rear entrance to the House of Apollo (VI 7, 23-24) with the aim of identifying the road’s earliest levels, the reason being that in some of the houses facing onto the vicolo, studied as part of the same project, such as the House of Grand Duke Michael (VI 5, 5-6, 21) and the House of Apollo, floor levels from the original layout dating to the 3rd century B.C. came to light.
The investigations uncovered a sequence of twelve successive beaten earth floors dating to between 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. The nature and alignment of these surfaces suggests that the vicolo never had a stone paving and was only a secondary road from its beginning. The beaten surfaces are cut by several pits, some serving as middens, others cut for construction purposes. The foundation trench for the eastern perimeter wall of the House of Apollo was identified which, on the basis of construction technique (opus incertum with caementa of mixed materials), can be dated to around the first half of the 1st century B.C. Six post holes, crossing the earliest beaten surfaces, also seem to have some function in the wall’s construction.
The 3rd century B.C. floors found in the House of Apollo and the House of Grand Duke Michael concord with the first beaten road surfaces. A first analysis of the material seems to confirm the chronological correspondence between the original layout of these houses and the first phases of the road. (Valentina Befani)