In 2022, archaeologists from Parma University, directed by Prof. Riccardo Villicich, reopened the excavations on the villa at Fiumana (Predappio, FC), which had previously been investigated in the 1960s by Giovanna Bermond Montanari. During this period, structures belonging to the pars fructuaria of an early imperial villa were identified, in addition to a vast four-apsed room of late Roman date. The finds, including fragments of marble and stone reliefs, as well as bronze sheets with embossed decoration, confirmed the site’s importance, as suggested by earlier sporadic finds. The reopening of the excavations in July 2022 was based on the interpretation of satellite images that showed traces on the ground of the underlying structures. The results of this first campaign revealed the full extent of the tetraconch building, interpreted by Bermond Montanari as a complete and isolated structure. In actual fact, it was part of a vast complex that develops from the central tetraconch structure towards the four cardinal points via an ambulatory, from which cruciform arms radiate.
A second pavilion, about 100 metres east of the latter and unknown until now, was identified and partially investigated. This was an open courtyard onto which faced four apsed spaces situated on the sides, and small rectangular rooms situated at the corners. A row of rooms and heated pools developed at the northern corner, belonging to baths that were certainly coeval with the late Roman villa.