This was the tenth excavation campaign on the site of Faragola (Ascoli Satriano). Further evidence was uncovered regarding the development and plan of the villa and, in particular, the abandonment phases of the late antique residence, the new forms of rural settlement and the characteristics of the residence, built among the structures of the pre-existing architectural complex from the beginning of the 7th century A.D. Occupation, including substantial alterations to the structures, probably continued until the mid 9th century A.D.

Work continued on the structures situated on the east side of the site, where research in 2006, 2009, and 2012 had uncovered a number of rooms that were separate from the central part of the villa. Between the end of the 6th and the 7th-8th century, these rooms were reoccupied for residential-functional purposes and, secondly, production activities (iron, copper and perhaps glass working). The excavations concentrated on the central area of the complex. The absence of stratigraphy relating to the original construction phases made it impossible to give a precise date and function for this building. However, its plan and size suggest it may be interpreted as a granary or warehouse. Evidence was also uncovered regarding the early medieval reoccupation when the construction of seven dividing walls created seven rooms around a central courtyard, built reusing the pre-existing perimeter walls. The rooms contained one or two cooking and/or heating plates, kitchen and table wares, containers for dry food stuffs, bells and other equipment for animals, indicating they were multifunctional. There was evidence of metalworking in one period in one room and perhaps also on the west side of the courtyard. The structural characteristics, spatial organisation, and uniformity of the rooms seems to suggest these rooms were inhabited by the servants of the early medieval residence.

Excavations were continued in three rooms of the nucleus situated north of the cenatio-portico complex, where in 2008 and 2009 a series of large rooms dating to the 5th century A.D. were identified. These rooms were probably kitchens and storerooms, with the upper floor housing the residential rooms. In the early medieval period, the occupation was both residential and productive. Below a clay settling/weathering tank, dated to the late 7th century, a monumental apsidal room came to light. Only the eastern sector was preserved and the original flooring had not survived and due to the many alterations it was not possible to reconstruct its plan. Dated to the 6th century A.D., the preliminary interpretation is that this was a nymphaeum.

The excavations in this area revealed the heavy robbing of two more rooms, through the systematic removal of all the elements that were reusable, recyclable, and sellable on the site or elsewhere, from paving and wall revetments, to roofing materials. No traces of late antique occupation survived.

A channel came to light in the trench opened east of the cenatio- baths residential nucleus. This was aligned with a stretch of the previously identified water channel leading towards the cistern situated in the proximity of the threshold leading into the cenatio complex. The tile covering of this structure was also rebuilt, probably when maintenance was undertaken. The channel’s direction suggests it was linked to a castellum aquae that probably stood on the site’s eastern hillside.
Further south, a large tank built of neatly placed tiles with a border of large tiles fixed vertically into the ground was partially excavated. This is interpreted as a structure for settling/weighing and/or weathering clay. The discovery of such a tank and its size confirms the importance, both in the late antique and early medieval periods, of the clay working industry not only for pottery production but probably also roof tiles, no doubt favoured by the availability of clay in this area.