The ancient town of _Aquinum_ was situated in the middle Liri valley, at the foot of the Mount Cairo range (1.669 m). It stood on a vast plain, with three ancient lakes to the east, now drained and reclaimed (Vallone di Aquino), where the left affluent of the river Liri runs, known as Le Forme di Aquino. The modern town of Aquino is situated west of Roman _Aquinum_, beyond the vallone. Among the research activities undertaken by the Laboratory of Ancient Topography and Photogrammetry at the University of the Salent, Lecce, is the “Ager Aquinas project”. This territorial research began in 1998 with field work which has produced a digital aerial photogrammetrical reconstruction at a scale of 1:2000 of the urban and suburban area of the ancient town, aimed at the drawing up of an archaeological map and reconstruction of the town plan. The topographical investigations, backed up by a careful interpretation of the aerial photographs, geophysical survey and, from 2005, by an aerial survey of the territory undertaken at low height, led to the reconstruction of the urban plan of ancient _Aquinum_ and, specifically, the identification of a residential quarter in the centre of the ancient town, with single buildings aligned along the roads. Taking these factors into consideration, the excavation programme for 2009 at _Aquinum_ foresaw the opening of two trial trenches within this central area of the town, identified thanks to the aerial and geophysical images. archaeological interest in this zone is also stimulated by the toponym “San Pietro Vetere”, although to date no elements of particular use for the definition of the urban plan had been found there. The first trial trench brought to light an _opus reticulatum_ wall on an east-west alignment, with evidence of robbing which began in the late antique period and continued into the medieval period. In the area of the trench south of the wall stone elements from the kerb or sidewalk belonging to a road on the same alignment were uncovered. In the second trail trench, situated to the north-east of the first, walls belonging to various rooms of a bath complex, perhaps public, were uncovered. At least three different rooms were identified, a first which the presence of _suspensurae_ in the floor and _tubuli_ in the walls suggest can be interpreted as _caldarium_ or _laconicum_, a second as a small access area with mosaic which led into the complex and a third open room interpreted as an _apodyterium_. In the latter room there was a mosaic inscription (1st century A.D.) inside a _tabula ansata_ mentioning two individuals, probably the builders or restorers of one of the rooms in the bath building.

During the months of June and July 2010 the second season of excavations in the urban area of ancient _Aquinum_ was held , in the site known as San Pietro Vetere. The activities this year involved students, archaeologists and specialists from the University of Salento, and the presence of the CNR in Rome in order to carry out geophysical surveys. They covered both excavations opened in 2009. The first trial trench involved the excavation of a infant burial near a wall in opus reticulatum already identified. The tomb was made up with re-used architectural material and contained the skeletons of two children (between 2 and 4 years old). Particularly interesting were the investigations of the second excavation trench, in the area of the bath complex identified in the previous year. The excavation was enlarged through an expansion to the south and north. The enlargement towards the south led to the identification of a large heated room (probably a _calidarium_), whose walls were covered with tubuli and marble slabs. The cleaning of the collapse layer led to the discovery, beneath these, of the skeleton of a female individual. From the analysis of its context, location, the disordered position of the skeleton and the absence of evidence for funerary structures of any kind, it is not certain that it is a tomb. The enlargement of the excavation to the south has also led to the discovery of a room only partially excavated, with a pavement in cocciopesto, interpreted at the time as a piscina or as an open room. The extension of the investigations to the north revealed further rooms of the bath, whose western limit still lies beyond the edge of the excavation. It also found medieval pits, and a post-Roman blocking wall constructed with re-used building materials, as well as a series of Roman rooms where walls in _opus reticulatum_, but not always of the same period, show the presence of different phases of construction, aimed at the enlargement of the building or to the change of use of the rooms of the bath complex. In the central sector of the trench, to the north of the _caldarium_ identified in the 2009 excavation campaign, a burial was discovered and investigated. The tomb was partially disrupted by agricultural work. It was built against a wall in the bottom of the bath and was made up of re-used materials (broken tiles and bricks) and contained three individuals buried in a subsequent period. The date is probably medieval, when the baths ceased to exist as such and its structures were reused as a cemetery. We also partly explored the underground sewer system, almost entirely conserved, characterized by a main drain oriented north-south from which different branches led at right angles.

La terza campagna di scavi (Giugno e Luglio 2011) nell’area urbana di _Aquinum_ (San Pietro Vetere, Castrocielo-FR-) ha visto la partecipazione di studenti, archeologi specializzati e specializzandi dall’Università del Salento e da altre Università italiane, e la presenza, anche quest’anno, del CNR di Roma. Lo scavo ha riguardato principalmente l’allargamento del saggio dell’area delle terme pubbliche. Nel corso della campagna sono stati acquisiti nuovi dati sull’articolazione delle terme e le sue fasi di vita: è stato indagato interamente un ambiente, caratterizzato da tubuli, _suspensurae_ e da un _preafurnium_ sul lato ovest, da interpretare con certezza come un _calidarium_, collegato a N ad un altro ambiente riscaldato, più piccolo, definibile come _tepidarium_. I diversi marmi _in situ_ e i resti delle strutture hanno permesso di ricostruire l’aspetto originario-pregevole dell’ambiente, caratterizzato da un rivestimento, sia sul pavimento che sulle pareti, di marmi colorati. Particolarmente interessante è stata l’indagine integrale dell’ambiente F, le cui murature appartengono a diverse fasi. Dopo l’asportazione del piano pavimentale lo spazio, di forma quadrangolare, stato utilizzato forse come immondezzaio nella fase di abbandono o rifunzionalizzazione delle terme. La sequenza stratigrafia dell’ambiente è fondamentale per la comprensione delle fasi di vita del complesso, grazie alla notevole quantità di reperti ceramici la cui cronologia va dal I sec. a.C. fino al IV sec. d.C. Nel settore nord dello scavo sono stati individuati i limiti del complesso termale, delimitato da un decumano orientato E-O. La strada presenta vari interventi di restauro sulle _crepidines_ ed è quasi interamente basolata, ad eccezione di un breve tratto glareato. Ne settore est lo scavo è stato ulteriormente allargato scoprendo un grande ambiente con mosaico bicromo a tessere bianche e crocette nere, caratterizzato molto probabilmente da due diverse fasi. Sotto il pavimento correva l’impianto di distribuzione dell’acqua. Connesso a quest’ultimo, nella parte centrale si trova una piccola vasca originariamente rivestita in marmo, interpretabile come resti di una fontana o un bacino lustrale. A nord e sud vi sono altri due ambienti, non ancora indagati interamente. I muri in _opus latericium_ avevano un rivestimento in lastre marmoree, come del resto molti degli ambienti finora messi in luce. Sull’angolo SE del muro è stata rinvenuta una tomba, costruita con materiale architettonico di riutilizzo e coperta con un bipedale proveniente da uno degli ambienti riscaldati. All’interno della tomba vi erano numerose resti scheletrici non in connessione, pertinenti almeno a 5 bambini dell’età compresa tra 1 e 6 anni. Unico indizio cronologico per proporre una datazione della sepoltura è rappresentato d una moneta rinvenuta in stratigrafia, databile al V sec. d.C.

Work took place in the south and west of the central rooms of the baths, which identified new heated rooms. The largest was a _caldarium_ bordered by two pools, one semicircular with terracotta _tubuli_ still _in situ_. The excavations in the east sector of the baths were extended, where the mosaic floor of the _frigidarium_ was uncovered, with a _tabula ansata_ and inscription. The mosaic had a motif of black flowers on a white background inside a double band of black slate tesserae. At the centre was a square _emblema_ bordered by a double band of black tesserae, in the middle a motif of black hexagons on a white background. Two rectangular pools, with benches in _opus mixtum_, plaster facing and make up for small marble tiles, were excavated to the north and south of the large room. Investigation of the east-west _decumanus_ bordering the northern edge of the bath complex continued, uncovering an overall length of about 38 m. The road surface was preserved except for a few patches that were cut by robber trenches. The paving was covered by beaten surfaces from which pottery fragments, coins, nails and bronze plaquettes were recovered. These materials dated the phases of the road’s use to between the first half of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century A.D. Four rooms were uncovered along the north-west edge of the excavation area: from the east, the first room was Room M, probably a service corridor, with parts of its floor of bipedales preserved. A marble threshold marked the passage to the west between this and a large rectangular room, its walls faced with red plaster. The floor was a white mosaic with a border of slate tesserae. The next room had a white mosaic floor with limestone concretions on its surface and has been identified as a _natatio_. The pool was bordered by _opus latericium_ walls, lined with plaster, and faced with marble slabs. The layers of collapse contained numerous coloured glass paste tesserae that probably decorated the ceiling. A tomb built of reused local travertine blocks was found abutting the pool’s west wall. It contained the remains of at least three individuals. The final room was identified as a latrine. The channel for clean water, built of limestone blocks, was preserved on all four sides. At the centre of the western side was a basin for ablutions. The marble bench tops were found inside the wastewater drain. The floor was paved with a figured mosaic made with black and white tesserae. The mosaic showed a Nilotic scene within a slate border. Inside a boat, a couple are shown in an intimate embrace, two pygmies standing on either side, the first piloting the boat, the other hunting. To the right of the central decoration are a crocodile and bird, above to the left, a second bird, while below there was probably another animal.

Excavation took place in the vast sectors north and south of the central rooms. At the same time specific interventions were undertaken in the eastern sector with the aim of exposing the two pools in the _frigidarium_. Lastly, research on the road continued where a trench was opened in order to identify the phases preceding the construction of the basalt road. In the eastern sector of the building, the excavation of the northern pool of the _frigidarium_ was completed. The floor surface was exposed, of which only the _opus signinum_ make up was preserved with the negative traces of the marble slabs that formed its facing. There was a partially preserved terracotta drainage tube in the pool’s south-western corner. The southern pool was then excavated. The fill was made up of a tile collapse from the room’s original roofing and a layer of polychrome figured wall plaster from the walls and ceiling. The removal of these layers revealed the pool’s marble facing. A white marble head of a bearded Hercules, covered with a panther skin (max. width 0.12m; h. m 0.21 m) was found in the collapse. Excavations continued in the area immediately west of the latrine (room P in the north-west sector of the baths). A new entrance to the baths from the basalt road delimiting the building to the north was identified by the presence of a local limestone threshold. Six new rooms were also identified (rooms Q, Z, Y, W, 1, 2) of which only one was completely excavated (Q). Room 2 was a corridor paved in _opus spicatum_; room 1 was not fully excavated in order to conserve the polychrome wall plaster that was still _in situ_; only the northern part of room W was excavated revealing a black and white mosaic floor with rhomboid and lozenge motifs; room Q a small rectangular anteroom provided a passageway from room W to the latrine, there were the remains of a white limestone mosaic and _opus spicatum_ floor in its western part and clear traces of the robbing of a lead water pipe with multiple branches; lastly, the remains of a square well built of large fragments of local stone were uncovered in the north-eastern part of the small square room Z. Excavation of the road continued towards the west for about a further 45 m. In this sector, the road showed several elongated cuts on a north-south alignment and other signs of later digging. In antiquity, several _basoli_ had been removed from the central part and this revealed the presence of a sewer under the road on an east-west alignment.

This was the sixth excavation campaign in the urban area of Aquinum ((San Pietro Vetere, Castrocielo-FR). Excavations continued in the previously identified rooms and some areas were extended in order to tidy up the excavation edge and gain an overall understanding of the bath building. In the eastern sector of the complex, the work to tidy the excavation edge revealed a series of rooms of uncertain plan that bordered the pools of the _frigidarium_ (investigated last season) to the east. A fragmentary white marble statue (H. c. 0.92 m, max. L. c. 0.40 m, max. Th. c. 0.20 m) came to light during the removal of the surface layers in the northernmost of these rooms. Identified as a female figure wearing a _peplos_, the head was missing, which was probably originally inserted onto the body, as were the arms of which the iron pins were preserved. The feet with detailed sandals, had already been removed in antiquity but were intact and could be reattached in their original position. Some excavation was also carried out in the central part of the complex, uncovering new rooms all with heating system. One particular room had four corner lobes created within the perimeter walls; only the make-up of the floor in this room was preserved, formed by brick/tile fragments. In two other rooms, one to the west and one to the east of the latter, the original mosaic floors were preserved, some depicting sea-monsters were still _in_ _situ_. Work on tidying the excavation edge also took place in the northern sector of the area where, during the preceding campaign, a wall delimiting a new _insula_ was identified, extending north of the baths and the paved road uncovered in previous seasons. Therefore, the excavations were extended to the west in order to uncover more of it. In the western sector, it was decided to continue the investigations inside the rooms already known and at the same time to extend the trench in an attempt to identify the borders of the bath complex on that side, and to intercept the crossroads that seemed visible in an aerial photograph.

This was the seventh year of the University of the Salento’s excavations in the urban area of _Aquinum_, in the locality of S. Pietro Vetere, territory of Castrocielo (FR). The research concentrated on two rooms of the large bath building identified in the past. The excavation area was extended in order to regularize its perimeter and gain an overall understanding of the bath building. At the same time, the campaign of aerial archaeology and remote sensing using drones continued. Excavation also took place in other sectors, in an area that the local administration aims to acquire. Large structures are present here that fall within the urban area of the ancient city: the so-called apsidal building and the theatre. Research took place immediately north of the ancient _via_ _Latina_ in the area of the so-called apsidal building. Trenches were opened in the north, south and east parts of the building, aimed at gaining an overall understanding of the structure and its phases. The excavation area was defined “Area 9000”, and in addition to a trench dug in the building’s perimeter, another was opened just to the east, “Trench A”. For the first time excavations also took place in the theatre of _Aquinum_ (north-eastern area). The excavated area (Area 15000) covered c. 285 m2 and was situated immediately north of the via Latina and south-west of the Via Civita Vetere, and west of and close to the so-called apsidal building.

This was the 8th excavation campaign carried out by the University of Salento in the urban area of _Aquinum_, in the locality of _S. Pietro_ _Vetere_, in the territory of Castrocielo (FR). During this campaign, it was decided to extend the excavation area and continue further investigation in the rooms already identified, covering a total area of about 9000 m2. The first interventions furthered investigation of a room identified in 2013 and interpreted as a large room leading into the building in the western sector. Two symmetrical rooms were then explored, probably _apodyteria_, with _opus_ _spicatum_ floors. A room identified as the _frigidarium_ was also investigated. Here the removal of the abandonment layers revealed a beautiful mosaic floor. It had a black background, bordered by a white band with a decorative motif formed by a flower with four petals, the white tesserae positioned at a regular distance. In the centre, there was a quadrangular _emblema_, with a white border surrounding a mixed decoration of mosaic and marble _crustae_, which in antiquity had been cut to remove some of the decorative or architectural elements housed here. Along the east side of the room there was an inscription 9.70 m long, on a north-south alignment and facing west, inside a _tabula_ 9.70 x 0,80 m. The inscription was made of black tesserae on a white background and names the magistrate who paid for the work (M•VECCIVS•) and the type of intervention that was undertaken at his expense (BALNEVM•VIRILE•ET•MVLIEBR•CRYPTAM•PALAEST(ram) ORNAMENTA).

This was the University of Salento’s ninth excavation season in the urban area of _Aquinum_, in the locality of S. Pietro Vetere, in the territory of Castrocielo (FR). During this campaign, it was decided to enlarge the excavations to cover an overall area of about one hectare and continue the excavation of the rooms already identified. The latter are situated in the central block of the building with the heated rooms of the men’s sector to the west and the women’s to the east. Work also took place in the women’s sector of the bath building in order to complete the excavation and recording along the side facing onto the basalt-paved road, the so called via delle Terme. Here, excavation continued inside a room interpreted as a _latrina_, whose white mosaic floor had been partially uncovered in the room’s western part during the 2010 season. The _palestra_ and a series of rooms connecting to it, arranged along the entire west side, were identified in the southern sector of the bath complex. Here, it was decided to concentrate on the central-eastern part of the large space in order to complete its excavation and see whether there were any service rooms mirroring those found on the west side. The excavations identified the eastern edge of the room, so that the complete perimeter of the _palestra_, and a new entrance situated in the south-eastern corner were exposed. The discovery of a robber trench along the western edge made it possible to reconstruct the line of a portico in this sector, whose back wall at least must have been richly decorated with plaster, as indicated by the substantial amount present in a layer close to the robber trench. Below the surface layers in the open-air central sector, there were a series of accumulations of circular-shaped building materials with clear traces of contact with fire. They may be associated with the extemporaneous reworking of building materials, in the phase of abandonment and robbing of the entire bath complex. The removal of the latest stratigraphy also exposed a third pool (5 m2) in the north-eastern part of the _palestra_ approximately on the same axis as the one opposite it on the west side.

This was the 10th campaign of excavations in the urban area of _Aquinum_, in the locality of S. Pietro Vetere (Castrocielo FR). During this campaign, the excavation area was extended and excavation deepened in the rooms already identified, in particular in the central block of the building where the heated rooms of the male sector to the west, and female to the east are situated. An overall excavation area of c. one hectare was reached. In particular, in the male sector the investigation involved the excavation of the _tepidarium_ and the two _praefurnia_ that heated the _calidarium_. The excavation data from the male _tepidarium_ showed the existence of a large heated room with two construction phases, the later one coinciding with the re-paving of the room during the 2nd century A.D., associated with alterations or improvements to the heating system. The surviving figures on the new floor (rhinoceros, panther and sea griffons) find stylistic parallels with motifs typical of the first half of the 2nd century A.D., period when the Vecciane baths saw a general phase of monumentalisation. In the female sector of the baths, a number of rooms were excavated whose construction phases date to the late Republican-early imperial period. It remains to be clarified whether these rooms constituted the easternmost part of the female sector or whether they related to a sector that was not part of the baths. The excavation of the latrine and in particular the conduits for the drainage of wastewater was completed. The layers of fill contained fragments of polychrome figured wall plaster including some with inscriptions painted in red. Other interventions aimed to complete the excavation and documentation of the road, a section of the so-called Via delle Terme, which delimits the bath building to the north. The eastern continuation of the gravel stretch of this road was uncovered. In the southern sector of the baths, where the gymnasium and a series of rooms connected to it were identified, arranged along the west and east sides, it was decided to concentrate on the northern zone, where the north perimeter wall was intercepted that separated the porticoed courtyard of the _praefurnia_ that heated the _calidarium_ from the bath complex. Other interventions took place in the western part of the gymnasium where the structures belonging to the first courtyard construction were intercepted. There was substantial evidence of robbing and dismantling in the gymnasium area, which turned the bath complex into a quarry during the late antique period, and a 6th-7th century burial was found in the northern part of the gymnasium. A new trench was opened by the theatre (Area 25000). The decision to investigate here was based on the presence of several anomalies in the aerial photographs taken in 2015, in one of the fields west of the excavation area. The traces were seen to be the north-western corner of a large colonnaded structure, which it is suggested was a _porticus_ _duplex_. The investigations aimed to find the hypothetical continuation of the structure and gain some understanding of the urban layout in this part of the Roman colony.