Excavations took place in the area of the late antique villa of Palazzo Pignano as part of a three-year concession (2017-2019). Four trenches were opened, D, E, F, and G.

Trench D was opened in the southern sector of the pars dominica in the peristyle. The excavation area measured 7.12 m N-S and 4.75 m E-W and reached a maximum depth of 1.68 m below the present ground surface. Below the late medieval occupation levels, the excavations exposed a robber trench on a north-south alignment, the result of the removal of a wide wall, perhaps the southern perimeter of a paved room, of which a patch of cobblestone make-up was uncovered in 1999.

Trench E was opened in correspondence with the southernmost stretch of the eastern foundation of a xystus, also in the pars domenica, in order to check for the presence of any column bases. Trench F involved the reopening of part of the 2016 excavations in the pars rustica, and the opening of a new sector further west. The foundations of two perimeter walls belonging to two different rooms that were parallel to each other. The foundations were cut by two ditches/trenches on a north-south alignment. The fill of one of the trenches contained a fragment of ARS, several glass fragments, a fragment of glazed mortaria and a small bronze coin datable to about the mid 5th century A.D. A hole containing c. 6,000 loose mosaic tesserae was found close to the western edge of the excavation area.

Trench G was also opened in the pars _rustica _, by the apsidal room excavated last year. Here, a series of interventions were identified that took place between the first half of the 4th and the 5th century A.D. The earliest phase was represented by a series of small postholes, at present interpreted as housings for the timber elements of scaffolding used during the construction of the walls of the aula or for fixing in place timber-built machinery. Another period of use of the area followed when a vast loose foundation of cobblestones and brick/tile was created. Fragments of ARS D, a fragment from a large soapstone vessel, a soapstone rim fragment and an AE4 dating to the second half of the 4th-early/mid 5th century A.D. were found in this foundation, thus offering a terminus post quem for its construction.