The main aim of the “_Pistrina_- bakeries in Roman Italy” project is to define, based on the archaeology, the chronology of the change from predominantly domestic bread making to commercial baking, looking at technical developments, in particular that of the oven and organisation of the productive spaces.

The excavations undertaken in five bakeries during recent years were completed in 2012. Now, the aim is to clean each productive structure in order to complete the cataloguing of the structures linked to bread making and to identify elements of relative chronology pertinent to their development in the houses in which they are situated.

In bakery VIII 4, 26-29, the structure’s moderate state of preservation limited the investigation. An electric cable, probably installed after World War II, crosses the southern part of the mill room. Despite this, a round cesspit was identified, the bottom of which was not reached – cleaning of the eruptive material stopped at a depth of 1.80 m – and which cut through the anteplinian eruptive layers.

The room where the dough was prepared had been heavily altered, probably in antiquity, perhaps because the bakery was undergoing alterations when the eruption occurred.

The oven presents a particularly interesting structure given that is one of the few examples in Pompeii to have been built below the level of the floors in the surrounding rooms. It was reached via a ramp from the mill room and via two steps from the dough preparation room.