The fourth season of excavations at the Vaiano-Gioiella Villa site took place during June and July of 2019. Excavation continued on the lower terrace where three rooms of a bath complex had previously been identified, as well as in the central area where a building with several construction phases, including a staircase leading from an upper terrace to a lower level, had been discovered. At the end of the 2018 season, a small section of a cocciopesto basin with a tile floor was uncovered, which at the time appeared to be for agricultural production (see 2018 FASTI summary). However, the 2019 campaign has revealed that this structure was most likely a type of nymphaeum.

In 2019 we expanded the excavations in the central area to the south and focused on clearing the accumulated layers of fill inside the structure identified in 2018. Due to the dense layers of disarticulated Roman building debris in the upper strata, which appear to have been used to level this area for modern agriculture, excavation was limited to the east and north part of the building. Limestone ashlars stacked on top of each other, one set of which was first uncovered above the basin in 2018, form a system of pilasters that serve to create niches along both the north and east walls. On the north, there are two niches on either side of the “stairway” that descends into the structure from the north (see 2017 FASTI summary). On the east wall, four niches have been exposed with a possible fifth to the south. If the building was symmetrical, there were likely 12 niches in total. The overall dimensions of the building are estimated to be 6.5 m x 8.4 m—a substantial structure. The scale of the building is matched by the decoration. The walls of the niches are surfaced with cocciopesto modeled to look like an artificial cave, with rough limestone nodules creating a rocky surface. Set into this surface are small pieces of blue-glass tesserae. The outer face of the limestone pilasters appears to have been decorated with intonaco painted in red, yellow, black, and white. However, there are not yet enough large fragments to reconstruct a pattern. The “floors” of the niches are formed by the top of the thick walls of the cocciopesto basin, but the limestone pilasters each have a layer of clay fill between the bottom of the stone and the top of the cocciopesto basin. This has yet to be explained, especially since the basin now appears to be a large pool forming a water feature. Moreover, since the basin walls extend up to the niches and pilasters, it is unclear if and how a floor for supporting furniture or people standing would have been constructed. The tile floor of the basin is well preserved in the north-east section, but in a later construction phase appears to have been partially removed towards the south and center of the structure. Also during a later building phase, the “stairway” was blocked. Given the nature of the building, it is now possible that what were first identified as stairs, may actually be a water feature, perhaps a cascade, for the nymphaeum.

Materials recovered from the fills inside the nymphaeum include a wide variety of ceramics and building materials of mixed dates, suggesting the most of the upper fill in the building is a relatively late accumulation. However, as noted in 2018, the levels closest to the floor of the basin include larger fragments of cooking wares and amphora, some of which can be partially reconstructed. These materials are concentrated towards the north and suggest the deliberate dumping of objects from a kitchen or storeroom into the open, but unused, nymphaeum building. From the upper fills the most notable finds of 2019 are two complete and identical brick stamps preserving the name L.ATALLIANI (“of Lucius Atallianus”). Three partial stamps bearing this name had been recovered in previous seasons.

On the lower terrace, three rooms of a bath complex had previously been identified, and in 2018 excavations focused on the apsidal room where the lower part of a hypocaust floor is partially preserved. In 2019, excavation on the lower terrace was extended to the west for three reasons: 1) to determine the construction of the exterior wall of the apsidal building, 2) to understand the nature of the later reuse of the bath building, and 3) to connect stratigraphically the central and lower terraces. The exterior wall support for the apse was constructed of cobbles laid in rough rows. As we noted in 2017 on the southern side of the bath complex, this wall was constructed directly into a cut in the natural sand sediment. There was no evidence of a foundation trench and no datable material. In regard to the later reuse of the bath complex, just to the north of the apsidal structure is a channel composed of repurposed cover tiles turned upside down to create a drain running from the west into the pan tiles we uncovered in 2018. While the channel was likely used to drain water, a deposit of burnt material around and inside the cover tiles, suggests there may have been kiln activity in the area and/or the final destruction of the building happened due to fire. Unfortunately, at the level of the drain the site has been heavily disturbed by modern ploughing. As in previous seasons, there was almost no pottery from the bath area. On the other hand, some singular pieces of interest came from the fills in this area: a well-cut marble cornice piece, marble wall revetment, and a fragment of a millefiori glass vessel; tantalizing examples of the luxury this villa once enjoyed.