The excavation is part of “The Roman Peasant Project”, developed by Pennsylvania and Cambridge universities. The site, known as the “Colle Massari Medievale” to distinguish it from others excavated in the same area, was identified during a survey as a small scatter of pottery datable to between the 9th and 10th century. As present research suggests that medieval settlements in Tuscany were almost exclusively hill-top villages and castles, the presence of isolated settlements in low-lying areas, like Colle Massari Medievale, constitutes an important exception and a new problem for current archaeological research on medieval landscapes. For this reason and because similar sites would seem to constitute a sort of continuity with the types of farms and small Roman rural settlements, which constitute the Roman Peasant Project’s main area of research, the decision was made to excavate here. The excavation revealed a terrace measuring about 7.5 x 10 m, the remains of a structure in perishable materials, possibly a dwelling, situated on the terrace, and a drain running along the south side of the terrace. The podium was formed by layers of clay and small cobbles and its level surface projected out from the hill slope. The drain contained a large amount of pottery, while no finds were present within the terracing. While it is possible that these anomalies represent two moments of the same construction phase, it is equally feasible that they represent a succession of attempts to channel the groundwater that had begun to endanger an existing structure. All pottery seems to date to between the 9th and 10th century.

During this season, the excavations concentrated on the southern complex, represented by two large buildings (building A and Building B) and a cistern. The research begun in this area in 2013 has uncovered part of a building, perhaps residential, that from its construction had a small _balneum_, and another, perhaps coeval or slightly later, which was conceived as a public _balneum_. The two buildings were linked by an L shaped corridor, which ran between them and a cistern that served both the _balnea_. Based on the construction techniques (_opus_ _mixtum_, _vittatum_ and _testaceum_) and on the style and iconography of a mosaic, the complex was built in the first half of the 2nd century A.D., in the Hadrianic period. Although the excavations previously concentrated on the phases of reuse and abandonment between the mid 5th and early 6th century A.D., several phases of alterations dating to between the 2nd and early 5th century A.D. were identified. The 2018 excavations were fundamental in clarifying the characteristics and chronology of a phase of transformation that had a substantial impact on the plan and movement within the bath building (Building B9. In part of a large apsidal room where the mosaics were removed by ploughing, trenches were opened that revealed evidence of the change in function. In fact, in the original phase (first half of the 2nd century A.D.) this room functioned as a _caldarium_ with _schola_ _labri_ and perpendicular heated pool. In the Several period, when the rest of Building B was enlarged and altered, the _caldarium_ was converted into the _frigidarium_, with the removal of the _pilae_ and the filling in of the hypocausts with layers of soil. In this phase the channel linking the hypocausts of the _caldarium_ and adjacent _tepidarium_ was blocked. The space previously occupied by the hot pool was transformed into two small rooms (vestibule and _apodyterium_). The apse of the _schola_ _labri_ was narrowed and transformed into a cold pool, and a second pool was added on the west side of the room. This evidence, together with the coeval alterations documented during the previous excavations show how the bath building saw the creation of two independent ways through the baths. Excavations then concentrated on the west side of Building A, where, at least in the original phases, a residential function was suggested. In the full 3rd-early 4th century A.D., a large buttressed horseshoe-shaped structure was built along the west side, which must have served as a courtyard to welcome travelers. In fact, in this phase the site seems to have to increased its function as a way-station along a secondary, but very important road that provided a transverse link between the roads of the _cursus_ publicus_ running between the coast and interior.