This project investigates the relationship between the development of suburban villas as elite residences with often important productive functions and the Roman urbanisation of the central regions of Italy located between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. The main objectives are to investigate the evolution in the political, social, cultural and economic functions of the villae suburbanae and to reveal some of the intricate dynamics between town, country and suburbia in this crucial part of the Roman World. The project uses an interdisciplinary historic-archaeological approach, integrating non-invasive and invasive archaeological methods, and the study of ancient literature and epigraphy. Part of this research, based on 25 years of fieldwork by Ghent University in this region, will deepen, interpret and contextualize the remarkable results of non-invasive prospections (GPR, LiDAR, geomagnetic survey, aerial photography, corings) on the newly discovered and very important suburban villa of Falerii Novi, one of the project’s central case studies. The project will stimulate debates on the complex relationship between Roman villa landscapes and urbanisation processes in central Italy between the Republican period and Late Antiquity.