Since 2013, FSU digs at Cosa. Other than being the go-to site for Roman republican architecture and city-planning, the Latin colony of Cosa is an ideal “classroom” both for hands-on analysis of the material culture and small curatorial exercises at the local museum. The excavation of a bath complex brings into focus unique architectural solutions and ingenuous mechanisms at a waterless site, while shedding new light on the aims and outcomes of Roman colonization in the third century BC. Further, a host of initiatives complements the excavation: extensive geophysical survey, geoarchaeological survey of the Argentario peninsula, 3D modelling, and the virtual reality experience of the collections.