37th Excavation Campaign at the Roman town of Suasa

From 1 to 29 July 2024, the 37th Archaeological Excavation Campaign took place at the Archaeological Park of the Roman City of Suasa, organised by the Department of History, Culture and Civilisation at the University of Bologna in collaboration with the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Ancona and Pesaro Urbino.

The investigations focused on the area known as the ‘Tappatino’, a sector of the city characterised by a long history of continuous occupation stretching from the Roman Republican era to the present day. The campaigns conducted between 2018 and 2022 had already revealed the presence of a significant monumental complex from the Imperial period, organised around a vast porticoed square and dominated by a large building raised on a podium.

The aim of the 2024 campaign was to deepen our understanding of this complex and clarify certain questions that had emerged from previous research. To this end, five stratigraphic test pits were opened.

Two trenches were dedicated to studying the relationship between the monumental complex and the ancient urban road network. The first was excavated to the north-east of the historic Tappatino farmhouse, near the Commercial Forum; the second was located near the entrance to the archaeological site, to ascertain how the complex was enclosed from the road. The other three trenches, on the other hand, investigated certain anomalies identified through geophysical surveys and verified the symmetry of the southern portico.

The excavation work and the study of the materials have made it possible to reconstruct three main phases of occupation of the area.

Modern and contemporary periods: The most recent phase relates to the agricultural use of the site between the Renaissance and post-Renaissance periods. Agricultural pits, already documented in previous surveys, were identified in several sectors. In test pit 5/2024, masonry structures also emerged that may be associated with the small Oratory of the Crucifix, known until now exclusively through nineteenth-century cadastral records.

Roman Imperial period: Archaeological evidence confirms the existence of a large monumental complex organised according to the model of a porticoed square enclosed on all four sides. The structures identified in the various test pits reinforce the hypothesis of a unified architectural project of great significance for the town of Suasa.

The Roman Republican period: Findings, drawn primarily from the 3/2024 report, have revealed stratigraphic layers and materials dating to the Republican period. This evidence suggests that the area was already occupied by a major public complex during the early stages of the city’s urban development, opening up new avenues of research into the earliest history of Suasa.

The findings of the 2024 campaign thus confirm the central role played by the Tappatino area in the urban development of the Roman town of Suasa and help to define more precisely the various phases of transformation that the area has undergone over more than two thousand years of history.

Team: Enrico Giorgi, Alessandro Campedelli, Anna Gamberini, Francesca Bindelli, Matteo Rivoli, Michail Anagnostoudis, Carlo Bicchierai, Ambra Cernuschi, Pier Paolo Capitano, Riccardo Cattabriga, Alessia Familume, Alice Marini, Claudia Mancini, Giovanni Manicardi, Simone Marco Ritunnano, Andrea Simoncioni, Davide Semeraro, Martina Strina, Sara Sassi, Gaia Uberti, Annalisa Vigliocco.