Appian Way

Ancient Roman road, running southeast from Rome. Work on it began in 312 BC, ordered by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus. By 244 BC the road had been extended to Brundisium (modern Brindisi, on the ‘heel’ of Italy) via Beneventum (375 km/233 mi). Much of the original road remains.

The road was built to consolidate the conquest of Samnite territory (east and south of Rome). The first stage ran to Capua in Campania (210 km/130 mi). The first few kilometres from Rome are lined with tombs from the early Christian and pre-Christian era.

The Roman satirist Horace, in his first satire, described a journey along the Appian Way en route to Brundisium. The emperor Trajan altered the last stage with a new road, the Via Traiana, from Beneventum to Canusium. The 30 km/19 mi from the Forum Appii across the Pontine marshes was improved by the emperors Nerva and Trajan; by Theodoric, king of the Visigoths; and also by Pope Pius VI, who built a new Via Appia from Rome to Albano.