Ferento was first a Roman town, then a bishop’s see until the 6th century and was finally destroyed in 1172. Excavation of the town has provided interesting evidence regarding the earliest occupation phases of the area (Etruscan remains) and also the monumental and residential parts of this important Roman municipium (still to be largely investigated) and for the re-examination of problems relating to the characteristics of the early medieval settlements situated in the proximity of the Lombard-Byzantine limes.

The excavations undertaken in an area north of the decumanus brought to light specific elements which delineate a facies typical of this geographical area. A large number of coins were also found, a precious source of knowledge for the period’s economic history.

Trench I was situated north of the decumanus and the baths. The excavations undertaken between 1994 and 2004 revealed a stratigraphic sequence which ran from the late Republican period to the 12th century. It was possible to follow the changes in the area’s use: at first it seemed to be the site of well-cisterns (probably late Republican) for water supply and storage, then (Julio-Claudian period) for warehouses and shops. From the early medieval period the area, which was delimited to the west by a large defensive wall in opus quadratum made of reused tufa blocks, seems to have been the site of craft industries for the extraction and preliminary working of mineral ores, as attested by the presence of abundant traces of burning, kilns and waste products.

The western sector of trench I revealed that in the Roman structures, upon the ruins of which the Byzantine fortification was built, the opus spicatum floors were in use until at least the 5th-6th century A.D. Below these was a pit dig into the tufa bedrock, probably a limekiln, filled with layers dating to the mid Imperial period. In 2001 the accesses to two wells had emerged. The one to the north was 2 m deep and was filled, the other to the south was partially blocked.

In the eastern sector the investigation looked at the portico with the system of small drainage channels for rain water, below which was a wall probably of Etruscan date, terracotta material and miniature vases suggesting this was a votive deposit.

The area of trench II, excavated in 2000, is situated at the end of the plateau of Ferento. The investigations revealed the presence of a small quarter, probably for artisans, comprising four buildings built a short time before the destruction and with little occupation evidence. At the far edge of the trench was a cemetery area. Most of the individuals, which are undergoing anthropological and palaeo-pathological analyses, were buried in simple graves, without grave goods and on different alignments, which suggests more than one phase of use.

In trench III, opened in 2001 and linked to the west to the Roman theatre, a domus with atrium and impluvium, identified in 1957, was excavated. The material recovered from the overlying layers date the structure to the early Imperial period. The layers below the _domus _ revealed substantial traces of metallurgical activity, as well as well-cisterns analogous to those in trench I, all probably dating to the mid Republican period. As regards the late antique and medieval periods, there was evidence for the limited restructuring of the _domus _ and, following its abandonment, a renewal of occupation in the area dating to the 11th-12th century, characterised by rows of one roomed houses.

Trench IV, opened in 2004, was situated in the area occupied by a large building, probably a fortified house of early medieval date, constructed on a high point of the western sector of the plateau. The construction of two buildings can be dated to the 10th-12th century the first of which may be part of a row of structures built up against the early medieval residence/fortification; the second was created inside the structure made of large stone blocks and was characterised by a construction technique datable to between the 12th-13th century.

Excavations in recent years have shown that the large structure in opus quadratum was founded, at least on the south side, on the layers of rubble and levelling overlying the razed Roman structures. Inside, the discovery of two coffer tombs, a simple pit grave and a scattering of bones suggests the presence of a cemetery area, the dimensions and dating of which cannot be precisely defined at present.

Trench V, opened in 2005, involved a zone inside the early medieval fortification, just north of trench I. The excavation aimed to check the depth and articulation of the stratigraphy inside the early medieval walls and to define the town’s occupation phases and the construction methods used for the fortifications, and in particular to clarify the chronological relationship between the walls and the towers. The upper layers revealed that the area was reoccupied after its destruction and abandonment. The removal of the rubble layers revealed a series of razed structures defining at least two spaces, a preliminary analysis of the materials recovered dates them to the 12th century. At present the investigations seem to indicate a series of open spaces arranged immediately inside the early medieval walls. These structures could have been built in a period very close to that of the construction of the fortifications or later, using a technique that still involved reused materials.