The main objective of the “ Pistrina – ricerca sui panifici dell’Italia romana” project is to define, on the basis of the archaeological evidence, the chronology of the transition from domestic to commercial baking, following the technical developments, in particular those of the oven and the organisation of the productive spaces.

Following the preceding campaigns, the open area excavation of the mill-room produced the data for a hypothetical chronology of the bakery’s development, revised from that suggested in 2009.

The first, perhaps original phase, was attested by a house (not dated) which included a shop. The bakery was created in the Tiberian period ( terminus post quem: 22 A.D. from numismatic evidence) with the construction of a space containing two millstones. Subsequently, following the 62 A.D. earthquake, two rooms were dug out, reaching the level of the earlier eruptions, perhaps in order to check the state of the foundations. Following this a third mill was added to the north of the first two, after the demolition of the shop facing onto via dell’Abbondanza. The mill-room was altered by the addition of a column. The final phase, which probably dates to the second half of the A.D. 70s , saw the enlargement of the bakery’s milling capacity: once the dividing wall between the main room and room 3 had been demolished, a fourth mill was added, without the usual basalt floor.