The waterlogged terrain has guaranteed the extraordinary preservation of timber elements and structures from a Roman building, identified during the course of a recue excavation in the centre of Chieri. The excavation, undertaken in 2006 with great difficulty due to the presence of water rising from the water table, revealed part of a building of imperial date at about 3.50 m below present ground level. The main room (approx. 10 x 9.50 m) was situated on a slope and built in _sesquipedales_. Next to the west perimeter wall of this room there was a bench made of a single plank of wood, 5.80 x 0.70 x 0.10 m, raised about 30 cm above a floor made up of perfectly-preserved wooden boards. The planks were fixed to a frame of beams with iron carpentry nails. The discovery of more boards probably indicates the presence of a similar floor in another room in the building, next to the main one, but only partially explored. Numerous quadrangular fixed posts were also present in the walls on three sides of the main room, which in a first phase constituted the supporting structure of the walls and roof. Later, the walls were reinforced at the base with cement cast in timber shuttering, of which the original planks were preserved. The main room was further altered by the addition of a service corridor along the east side. Outside, to the east, a channel – also made of wood – must have taken water into the building, via an opening may perhaps have had a sluice gate in an earlier period (as suggested by the presence of housings on the threshold). This evidence is of great importance for the interpretation of the building: in fact, it is possible that activities involving the frequent washing of the floors took place inside it (_fullonica_?, butchers?). However, this suggestion was not confirmed by finds relating to any sort of production activity. Pottery dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D. was recovered from the levels of collapse, which gave a _terminus post quem_ for the abandonment of the complex, perhaps caused by alluvial events attested by a layer of silt sealing the collapsed structures. As things stand, the position of the building in question in respect of the layout of _Carreum Potentia_ is unknown. The alignment of the walls differs from that of others that have emerged, but corresponds with the agricultural centuriation. This fact, together with the lack of other buildings nearby suggests that this structure stood outside the town. Over 160 wooden elements, preliminarily classified as oak, were recovered during the excavation. Each element was removed/recorded separately with the hope of reassembling them later; the methodology and conservation treatments were determined by the specialists from the Wet Wood Laboratory at the site of the ancient ships in Pisa (as agreed with the Archaeological Superintendency of Tuscany). Dendrochronological analyses and C14 dating will be carried out.