The 2010 campaign on the Roman villa at Collesecco began forty years after the excavations which uncovered the complex (Santangelo 1969, 1970, 1972). As it appeared the site seemed to cover an area of circa 40 x 40 m, however the latest investigations showed that the villa covered a much larger area. The cleaning and analysis of the sections of terrain delimiting the structures excavated in the past revealed the presence of more rooms of which patches of mosaic were found. The evidence also revealed a prolonged occupation period (until at least the 6th century A.D), well beyond the main construction phase dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D., and also an earlier phase of 3rd-1st century B.C. date. The structures visible at present comprise about thirty rooms, including an atrium, reception room, colonnaded peristyle and baths. From the time of its discovery the villa’s importance was made clear by certain aspects: the organisation of its layout, the mosaics (left in situ) and the find of numerous terracotta architectural decorations. The 2010-2011 campaigns saw the partial excavation of the north-south cryptoporticus, one of the two forming the villa’s substructures., In contact with the opus signinum floor of the corridor, this investigation uncovered at least two dolia used for the conservation of dry foodstuffs. The rim of one bore the stamp M. COTTAE, already known from previous excavations, thus confirming a link between the toponym Cottanello and the building.

The 2012 campaign foresaw the recording of the villa’s walls and floors: in fact, the graphic and photographic documentation of the walls and floors is fundamental for mapping the original sectors and relative facings, distinguishing the restorations from the ancient walls. At the same time a new technical analysis of the building was deemed necessary, in particular the baths. In fact, the number of rooms and their arrangement within the _balneum_ was unclear as the structures, often less well-preserved than the rest of the complex, especially the flooring, were difficult to read. Therefore, the investigations concentrated on identifying the functional route through the baths, the system of water supply and drainage, the position of the hot and cold pools, and the evidence for the heating system. As well as the field work, the 2012 campaign continued the finds processing, looking not only at the material from the recent investigations, but also from the ’69-’72 excavations (158 boxes). In particular work concentrated on 50 boxes of painted wall plaster fragments from both the old and new excavations. A comparison between the finds from the old non-stratigraphic excavations and those from the new better-documented sequences improved the dating of the large quantity of material from the old excavations and provided a typology with which to compare the newer material. A wider picture is being created of the domestic furnishings, as well as of the terracotta, pictorial and stone decorations found on the site. A synthesis looking at the economic, social, and historical questions relating to the villa of Collesecco is also being formulated.

CNR’s Institute of Ancient Mediterranean Studies, in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Lazio and Rome – La Sapienza University, began new excavations at the villa with the aim of gaining a “global” understanding of the building in its historical-territorial context. The research continues the investigations begun in 2010 by Prof. Patrizio Pensabene, forty years on from the excavations that originally brought the complex to light. During the 2013 campaign, it was decided to deepen the excavation in room 25, part of the baths complex, where the 1969-72 excavations had only touched the surface layers and no floor was preserved. Below the surface layers, ancient stratigraphy constituted by a substantial accumulation of material relating to the destruction of a hypocaust was revealed. Its analysis could provide new clues for the interpretation of the evidence documented in rooms 24, 26, 28 and 29, and in general for the reconstruction of the order in which the rooms forming the baths complex were used. During the excavation, the cataloguing and study of the finds was undertaken, in particular the pottery, plaster, and dolium fragments found during the excavation of the cryptoporticus. In collaboration with the Istituto per le Tecnologie applicate ai Beni Culturali (ITABC) at CNR, a study will be made of the composition of the pottery and plaster. Work continues on the comparative study of the materials from the old excavations and the study of the production of the typical rose-coloured limestone breccia known as Cottanello marble.

This was the second excavation campaign carried out by CNR’s Institute of Ancient Mediterranean Studies, in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Lazio and Rome – La Sapienza University at the Roman villa of Cottanello (RI). Work continued in room 25 in the baths complex on the excavation of the substantial accumulation of rubble from the destruction of a hypocaust. A new trench was opened west of the baths with the aim of defining the links between the rooms in the baths and those identified to the west of the excavation area, outside the roofed-in area, already investigated by La Sapienza in 2010 (trenches IV and V). The removal of the modern layer relating to the previous excavations revealed several occupation layers with the presence of hearths, a structure used to support a timber roof, and materials indicating that a small area destined for the conservation of dry foodstuffs was situated in the southern part of the trench. Topographical and geophysical survey and photogrammetric documentation began, as well as research on the types of mortar, wall plaster colours and the state of conservation of the plaster itself and of the floor mosaics.

Excavations on the site were halted for two years in order to study the finds from the 2010-2016 seasons. This year, CNR’s Institute for Ancient Mediterranean Studies (ISMA), in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Lazio and Roma La Sapienza University, carried out a new season of excavations on the Roman villa at Cottonello (RI). The work was limited to the investigation of room 25, where previous excavations had documented a substantial accumulation of material relating to the destruction of a hypocaust had been previously identified. Although not completed, the excavations revealed the presence of structures obliterated by accumulations of materials, whose study will provide more data regarding the room’s function within the bath complex. The cataloguing and study of the archaeological material, in particular the pottery, _dolia_ and wall plaster, continued together with laboratory analysis of the pottery and plaster composition.