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.

The cleaning in bakery VII 2, 3.6-7 led to the identification of several phases, twp of which seem linked to the existence of a bread making structure. The first phase, undated, was only glimpsed: a basalt surface, earlier and lower than the one in use in 79 A.D. After this first structure, the continuation of the bakery remains uncertain. However, some time later following large scale restructuring, the bakery in use in 79 A.D. was built, perhaps also using the peristyle of the house as an area for washing grain before it was milled.

The state of the millstones clearly indicated that they had been damaged and repaired prior to the eruption, the moment in which the water supply system was either being repaired or installed at the level of the oven.