The research which began in 1981 as a series of programmed excavations on land belonging to Villa Medici and the monastery of Trinità dei Monti, has, since 1991, dedicated increasing amounts of time to preventative and rescue archaeology. This work has permitted a map to be drawn up of the ancient topography of this part of the Pincio, an area which had never been the subject of archaeological investigation. It is known from the ancient sources that it was occupied by the horti Luculliani, considered by Plutarch amongst the most magnificent of Imperial Rome, and later known as the domus Pinciana. Evidence for the Republican period is slight and difficult to date. It seems that during this period, on the site where the Parnassus of Villa medici stands today, a temple dedicated to Fortune was erected. This was then reconstructed in the 4th century A.D. as a vast rotunda, which survived until the 16th century. On the contrary, much new data is now available as regards the Imperial period: Augustan buildings, sustaining walls for the hill and, above all, the villa and large nymphaeum-theatre built by Valerio Asiatico in the Julio-Claudian period (originally thought to be the villa of Lucullus), preserved beneath the north garden of Trinità dei Monti. This villa was subject to restoration and restructuring between the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. whilst under the ownership of the Acilii and the Anicii. During the 5th century A.D., following the sack of Rome by Alaric, the annexation of the domus into the Imperial property lead to the construction of new buildings (a grand pavillion for entertaining, a bath-building). The last construction work seems attributable to Belisario in 535A.D.; this was a great cistern which is still preseved below Villa Medici. Excavations have also provided information as regards the occupation of the hill between the 15th to 18th centuries. (Vincent Jolivet)