The excavation of the Roman, early medieval and medieval town of Ferento, first Roman municipium, bishop’s see until the 6th century and destroyed in 1172, provided important data, not only for the earliest phases of use (Etruscan occupation), but also regarding the monumental and residential reality of an important Roman municipium (largely still to be investigated). The excavation also provided useful data for a re-examination of the problems regarding the characteristics of early medieval settlements close to the Lombard-Byzantine limes.

In trench I the investigation concluded in 2005 when Roman levels were reached and the trench was then back filled.

The area of trench II, excavated in 2000, was situated at the edge of the Ferento plateau. The investigation revealed the existence of a small quarter, probably for artisans (four buildings), constructed shortly before the destruction of the settlement and with very few traces of occupation. At the edge of the trench there was a cemetery area. Most of the individuals were buried in simple earth graves without grave goods and on different alignments which suggests more than one phase of use. Anthropological and paleo-pathological analyses are being undertaken on the skeletons.

A complete investigation of the cemetery, partly inside and partly outside of a structure identified as a cult building, was made during the 2008 campaign. It was ascertained that when the cemetery was created particular types of burials were used (composite “a cassa” tombs, tile lined graves). These were then abandoned over time, perhaps because they were considered too “bulky” in an area where mortality was moderately high, as attested by the numerous burials found, often arranged in a chaotic manner and suggested burials at short intervals.
The geological substratum was constituted by layers of tufa and clays overlying travertine layers. These were covered by layers of earth, of varying thickness, used to level the very irregular lay of the terrain and thus create a homogeneous surface.

Trench III was slightly extended to the west in order to document medieval house B (of which only the eastern front had previously been identified), the western limit of the already known Roman house and of the entire insula occupied by the latter and lastly, the line of a vicus (leading off the decumanus maximus ) flanking the insula to the west. As well as the first results obtained from this extension, excavation continued in the portico area where a pit was uncovered, probably used for lime burning or slaking or for mortar mixing. The pit dated to the period of the construction of the domus, that is the Julio-Claudian period. Lastly, excavation continued on the southern open area ( hortus, viridium or more likely an open courtyard), thus better defining the occupation phases.

Trench IV was extended to the west to include a new room (2), part of the medieval phase, of which part of the perimeter walls were already visible. The earlier campaigns had definitively removed the medieval levels both on the inside and outside south of the opus quadratum structure (room 1). To the west and north the paving levels of the medieval roads were reached but not further excavated. Half of the opus quadratum structure was excavated. Inside, below the phase with the graves, a substantial deposit of pottery fragments was revealed. Its function remains unclear but preliminary dating places it in the late antique period. In the eastern area, several Roman rooms came to light below a thick layer. Some traces of plaster remained on the walls and in one room (3) the flooring was also visible. Their relationship to the layers of Roman collapse in the south-western part of the trench remains to be clarified.

Excavation in the area of trench 5, a sector up against the early medieval fortifications opened in 2005, produced important data regarding the occupation of the town after the destruction of 1172. Inside the town, immediately below the collapse of the fortifications, structures for a number of activities were identified, more or less sporadic, and covering the razing of the 12th century buildings. Post holes for a wooden roof, beaten surfaces and the housing for a channel or pipe for liquid attested activities linked to stock raising or operations for the removal and transformation of materials, related to the metal working activity identified by the excavations in trench I.

A hearth, carbonised seeds and two denarii of the Republic of Lucca (minted until the first quarter of the 12th century), found in the beaten surfaces below, relate to the final occupation phases of the buildings abutting the fortifications.