Excavation continued in the sectors opened during the 2011-2012 campaigns. Trenches VI and VII, situated in the ex-campsite, were extended and three sondages were opened in the immediate vicinity.

In the first case, small interventions clarified the nature of the deposits filling the opus caementicium temple podium and confirmed, through the extension of the trench on the south-west side, the presence of a wide road in front of the temple. The road was paved with a mosaic of large tesserae, now almost completely gone. New evidence emerged in trench VII where earlier campaigns had exposed a substantial rectilinear foundation built of irregular tufa blocks, with a quadrangular forepart at its western end. This massive wall, on a north-east/south-west alignment, must have screened the temple podium to the north (trench VI), and separated, on a higher level, buildings of diverse function situated further west. Two previously unknown structures of a certain importance emerged in this area, made up of four rectangular structures aligned along an opus reticulatum wall running parallel to the massive foundation. It was clear that a number of these structures were related to water supply. What was probably an apsidal fountain was situated in the south-west corner of the structure, fronted by rectangular basins connected by a quadrangular channel. The fountain may have had a portico of which two travertine plinths were uncovered, while in the north-east room, only partially excavated, there were traces of a mosaic of white tesserae.

The presence of several layers of lime incrustations, some of which were very thick, suggests a continuous flow of water and the possibility that the structures functioned as a settling tank, a suggestion confirmed by the neighbouring distribution basin with underground cuniculi published by Salza Prina Ricotti in 1982. The water flow must have been substantial in this sector of the villa, not far from the castellum aquae in Piazza d’Oro and close to the great bath complex a little further west on the lower level of the so-called Pretorium.
The building under excavation appeared to have adopted an architectural solution that combined the aesthetic qualities of a fountain with the fundamental function of purifying the waters.

In the same context the excavation intercepted construction site levels and small middens that contained a large amount of pottery. The later occupation phases were attested by coins of Probus and 5th century nummi found in the abandonment layers.

The next campaign will continue the excavation of this complex of rooms, with the removal of collapse and emptying of the basins. Other interventions will investigate the small walls built of stone and reused tile fragments identified in the sondages located north-east of the temple podium, which perhaps formed the flowerbeds of a garden.