The excavations in Contrada Franchetto at Castel di Iudica, exposed the remains of a rural settlement traces of which were documented by several surveys in the area. Based on the sporadic finds and those from the excavations, the site seems to date to between the 3rd -2nd centuries B.C. and the 3rd century A.D., with the greatest concentration and consistency between the 2nd century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D., followed by renewed occupation in the 5th-6th century A.D. The archaeological investigations fill a large gap in knowledge of settlement dynamics in the area in the Republican and imperial periods. The settlement in Contrada Franchetto appears to confirm, in the dynamics of land use and social development, the transition from the free _epauleis_ of Hellenistic tradition to the extensive _fundi_ _dominici_ that developed after the Augustan phase of general impoverishment described by Strabo.