Appia Antica was the first from the Roman roads connecting the capital with strategic towns of the Empire.
It was built under supervision of the consul Appius Claudius Caetus, who opened also the first aqueduct Aqua Appia.
The works on the road started in 312 BC, and at first the road connected Rome with Capua ( today Santa Maria di Capua Vetere ) to be later extended through Beneventum to Brindisi, an important sea port located 530 km from Rome.
After leaving Rome tho road run almost exactly in the straight line. Every 15-20 km it was a shelter for horse changing, still it took 5 days to reach Capua and 13 days to Brindisi.
Laid with tiles of marble the road was 4,1 m wide, large enough for two carts to pass by.
It was a military and merchant road but soon was filled with showing off citizens of Rome parading on nice laid horses and with chariots pulled by lions, tigers and other exotic animals.
It became the main road of Empire called the queen of roads ‘Regina Viarum’, in the early stages lined by tombs of aristocracy, as the law forbade funeral inside of city walls.
The part of Via Appia near Rome was surrounded by cemeteries with catacombs and columbaria the burial chambers with urns holding the ashes of dead ones.
Somehow ironically, today this is the best preserved part of the road.
In Middle Ages the road lost its importance, and became dangerous when the Caetani family turned into a fortress the large building of tomb of Cecilia Metella and started to disturb the passers by.
This led to building of an alternate road called Via Appia Nuova, leaving Rome about one kilometer east from the old one.
In the 16th century there were attempts to renovate the old road, but only turning of 18th and 19th centuries brought the funds necessary to introduce renovation plans.
Today Appia Antica is an important destination with early Christian catacombs, chapels and Quo Vadis church.
Originally the road started from Porta Capena near Therme di Caracalla. There were already four baths existing in Rome, when Caracalla desired to have one on his own and naturally it must’d been the larges ones. The baths here were opened from sunrise till sunset and were able to accommodate over 6 000 of people. Near the baths there is a church of SS Nereo and Achilleo built on the place where St.Peter is said to drop a scarf while escaping from prison.
Another church San Sisto Vecchio was the place of first Dominican nunnery.
Within the Aurelian Wall there is one more church San Giovanni a Porta Latina, the Renaissance house of Cardinal Bessarione and the tomb of family Scipio famous for their victory over Hannibal.
The most impressive from the gates of Aurelian Wall, Porta San Sebastiano marks the beginning of the route called extra-muros ( behind the walls ).
This part of Appia is called Clivus Martis – the hill of Mars, from the temple of Mars. This is also the beginning of area with various tombstones, quite often unrecognizable.
Near one of the tombs there is the small church ‘Domine. Quo Vadis ?’ marking the spot, where according to the tradition St.Peter stopped to escape and returned to Rome after a vision of Jesus coming back for his second crucifiction. When Jesus dissapeared he left the traces of his feet on the road marble. The piece with footprints is preserved in nearby Basilica of Saint Sebastian above the catacombs of S.Sebastian. To visit are also Catacombe di San Callisto and Catacombe di Domitilla (the detailed description you can find in article ‘Catacombs in Rome‘).
Later there are ruins of three buildings left during the short ruling of Maxentius ( 306-312 ) his villa, the tomb of his son Romulus and the large arena of circus Circo di Massenzio capable of holding over 10 000 of spectators.
Following the road further you will find the small hill with the most famous mausoleum Tomb of Cecilia Metella. This round building almost 30 m in diameter is adorned with a row of stone bull heads, from which the area is called Capo di Bove (Bull’s Head).
Beyond the tomb Via Appia is more eroded, the tombstones behind the road are gradually vanishing leaving the space to the green vegetation. You may later turn left to join the road Via Appia Nouva leading to the medieval villages known as Castelli Romani.
[photo courtesy of yahti.com ]
