Do you fancy a walk among the most important remains of Rome’s history and, making the most of a lovely day, would you like to discover the route to take along the Appian Way?
You have probably already noticed that visiting the monuments of the Appian Way in a single day is practically impossible. This ancient Roman road is remarkably long: it was not only one of the most important roads of the empire, but it also led from Rome all the way to Brindisi, where one of the main ports towards Greece and the East was located.
Today the route along the Appian Way is quite long and includes monuments from very different periods. You move from the cemetery Rome of the extra moenia to medieval churches, from underground tombs to country villas. In short, a real journey through the history of one of the most important empires of antiquity.
Some good news: in July 2024 the Appian Way was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List under the name “Via Appia. Regina Viarum”, becoming Italy’s sixtieth recognised treasure. One more reason to go and discover it.
The beauty of this place is such that, for years, proper bike tours of the Appian Way have been organised. By bike you can reach the most important monuments that would otherwise take hours on foot: with a guide you will not only discover all the details of this place, but also visit the famous Catacombs of San Callisto.
I promise you that the view over the Roman countryside, the ancient aqueducts and the beauty of the monuments will fill you with a great sense of wonder.
Do you want to organise things yourself but don’t know where to start?
I know, it is not at all easy to make sense of all these sites. But below you will find all the information for visiting the Appian Way and for understanding this immense historical and artistic heritage. I will show you some of the most important monuments of the regina viarum, starting right from the centre of Rome.
Would you like to know a little more?
Let’s begin!
1 – The Appian Way: the “regina viarum”
Taking a walk along the Appian Way means retracing the history of Rome and discovering a very particular side of Roman civilisation, the one linked to roads and burials.
For the ancient Romans, roads were indispensable, not only for trade but above all for controlling the territory.
By moving their legions quickly from one region of the empire to another, they were able to defend the borders and respond to any attack. The Appian Way, called the regina viarum (the queen of roads), was begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to connect Rome to Capua; it was later extended to Benevento, Venosa, Taranto and Brindisi, remaining one of the peninsula’s main routes until the Middle Ages.
Despite the many monuments found along the Appian Way, the road itself is a magnificent feat of Roman ingenuity. When you stroll or take a bike route along the Appian Way, you will notice that the paving is made of huge, perfectly fitted stone blocks (the basoli). This feature allowed any vehicle to travel it and, if you look carefully, you can even spot the ruts left by cart wheels.
But travelling the Appian Way today is like leafing through the book of Rome’s history: through its monuments you will discover truly fascinating things.
Here are the ones you absolutely must not miss.
2 – The tombs and the sad story of Spartacus
Perhaps you have already noticed it, but the Romans used to build their tombs and family mausoleums along the main roads leaving Rome. For reasons of hygiene, in fact, they did not bury their dead intra moenia, within the city walls, but only outside. I find it genuinely ingenious, if you think we are talking about more than 2,000 years ago.
But there is a detail about these ancient Roman tombs that not everyone knows!
If you look closely, the inscriptions on the gravestones are often in the first person, as if the deceased themselves were speaking. Back then it was the custom to read aloud rather than silently as we do today: so, when passers-by read them, the dead found their voice again and told their story.
Along the Appian Way you will find many examples of this tradition, but this consular road was also the stage of a terrible event, one of the bloodiest in the history of Rome.
Perhaps you remember the story of the revolt of Spartacus, which broke out in 73 BC.
Spartacus was a gladiator who, driven to despair by the inhuman conditions of his lot, led a slave revolt that grew to tens of thousands of men. The war of Spartacus lasted until 71 BC and ended with the victory of the republic at the hands of Crassus. To set an example, and to prevent it from happening again, the roughly 6,000 slaves who were captured were all crucified along the Appian Way.
The stretch running from Rome to Capua was lined with crosses, as a warning to the other slaves.
3 – The Circus of Maxentius
But the history of the Appian Way, fortunately, is not made only of grim memories and terrible executions. Along the route you will meet many monuments of Roman antiquity, among which the majestic Circus of Maxentius stands out. If you want to visit the Appian Way, I recommend starting right here!
But who was Maxentius, and why is he so important?
Maxentius was proclaimed emperor in Rome in 306 AD and ruled the central part of the empire in an age of power struggles between the heirs of Diocletian.
His fate was decided against Constantine: you may be familiar with the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where the two clashed. On 28 October 312 Constantine won, and Maxentius met his death by drowning in the Tiber during the retreat, when the bridge gave way under the weight of the fleeing men.
Despite his tragic end, Maxentius is important for Rome’s history because he promoted great building works, such as the famous Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum and his suburban villa on the Appian Way. The residence comprised a magnificent palace, the mausoleum of his son Valerius Romulus (who died as a child in 309) and a large circus.
So what you can see today on the Appian Way is the “private” circus of Maxentius, used for chariot races and other spectacles. Its size is impressive, especially when you consider that it was a structure reserved for the imperial court.
To give you an idea, it could hold about 10,000 people: it was 520 metres long and up to 92 wide. It is one of the best-preserved Roman circuses of all, and truly worth visiting.
4 – The mausoleum of Cecilia Metella
You cannot visit the Appian Way without stopping at the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella. This huge funerary monument is one of the most celebrated of antiquity and for centuries has attracted the interest of artists, architects and historians.
Who was Cecilia Metella?
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but almost nothing is known about the deceased beyond what is written in an inscription on the structure. We know she was the daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, consul in 69 BC, and that her husband was Marcus Licinius Crassus, son of the Crassus who formed the first triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey and who defeated Spartacus.
So why is this monument so important?
The mausoleum of Cecilia Metella is a great circular building resting on a square base. The cylindrical tower, about 11 metres high and nearly 30 in diameter, was clad in marble and decorated with a frieze of bucrania (ox skulls). Inside opens a single burial chamber faced in brick, one of the earliest examples of this technique.
We do not know whether it was originally crowned by a dome or by a covering of earth and plants, as in other Roman burials, nor what became of the rich grave goods that must have accompanied the sarcophagus. What is certain is that the monument was also built to convey a political message and to celebrate the family’s prestige, as well as the noble deceased.
Here’s a curious fact!
During the 11th century the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella became part of a small castle and, given its shape, was used as a keep. The battlements you see at the top, however, date from the 14th century, when the monument became part of a proper fortified hamlet belonging to the Caetani family, who collected a toll for passage along the Appian Way.
But its story does not end here!
Something not everyone knows is that, according to tradition, the mausoleum risked being demolished for its building material, as happened to many ancient monuments in Rome. Fortunately the people of Rome objected, and the monument stayed where it was. If you are intrigued by the way Roman Baroque “recycled” the antique, take a look at the story of Gian Lorenzo Bernini too.
5 – The villa of Herodes Atticus and a 2,000-year-old mystery
Along the route of the Appian Way you will find the Roman villa of Herodes Atticus, a singular figure whose life was full of events and mysteries.
Born and raised in Greece, he was one of the richest men of his time. His father, of noble origins, declared he had found a hidden treasure in the wall of his house; the one to benefit, however, was the son, who used that money to fund numerous public works.
Herodes Atticus even taught in Athens and later became the tutor of Lucius Verus and of Marcus Aurelius, the future “philosopher” emperor.
He married the very young Roman noblewoman Appia Annia Regilla and spent a period in Rome with her, in his wife’s suburban villa, fitted with every comfort. But it is at this point that a real mystery begins.
The couple was struck by grave losses: they lost more than one child in infancy, and Regilla was then forced by her husband to follow him to Greece, where she became a priestess. Their only child to reach adulthood, Bradua, remained in eternal conflict with his father because of a crime as mysterious as it was cruel.
In 160 AD Regilla, eight months pregnant, was violently beaten by a freedman, probably on her husband’s orders, and died at just thirty-five from the blows, together with the child she was carrying.
Herodes Atticus was accused of the murder but managed to avoid conviction thanks to the protection of Marcus Aurelius. His son Bradua, however, never forgave him; so, to secure an heir, Herodes adopted other children and, in his wife’s honour, had a cenotaph erected on the Appian Way.
The villa of Herodes Atticus today
The account of this sad story has reached us thanks to the villa of Herodes Atticus on the Appian Way.
Nothing remains of the original house but the foundations. The one you can visit today is in fact a dwelling built after the war, which incorporated into its walls various parts of the ancient Roman house.
The pools of the baths, the mosaics, the statues and even a Greek inscription, “Regilla, light of the house”, tell us the story of this woman and of the unpunished crime.
Inside there is now a small exhibition that takes you through the history of the Appian Way. The building is well organised and in the garden grows what is considered the oldest palm tree in Italy.
The Appian Way route: what else to see
If you decide to go even further along the Appian Way, you will find many other important tombs, including those of Gaius Licinius, Hilarius Fuscus and Quintus Apuleius.
Beyond the fifth mile you will come across the remains of the grand Villa of the Quintilii, one of the largest suburban villas in Rome, which stretches as far as the Appia Nuova; nearby you can see the Aqueduct of the Quintilii, one of the best-preserved aqueducts of ancient Rome. The Villa of the Quintilii is today a visitable archaeological area with its own museum.
At this point the route of the Appian Way will take you practically into open countryside, but the things to see are not over yet.
Here stands one of the largest tombs of the Appian Way: the Mausoleum of Casal Rotondo, with its imposing cylindrical shape. Various theories have been put forward about its owner: the most likely is the consul Messalla Corvinus, who had his country villa here.
Finally, near the ring road (GRA), you can see an ancient medieval tower of the 12th century built on a pyramid-shaped Roman mound: the Torre in Selce.
How to get there and visit the Appian Way
To visit the Appian Way I recommend a walk or a bike ride: at weekends it is truly delightful to immerse yourself in this park, where time seems to have stopped in the Roman era.
- Getting there: from the centre of Rome you can take bus 118 (it passes the Colosseum and Circus Maximus and runs as far as the Villa of the Quintilii) or metro line A to Arco di Travertino and then bus 660. By car, it’s best to park along Via Appia Pignatelli or near the individual monuments. At the park entrance (Via Appia Antica 42/60) there is also bike rental.
- Tickets: walking or cycling along the road is free. For the monuments managed by the Archaeological Park there is a handy combined ticket (full price about €12, reduced €2 for EU citizens aged 18-25, free under 18) valid for one week, which includes the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella and the Villa of the Quintilii; there is also an annual card, “La mia Appia” (€25). The Circus of Maxentius has a separate ticket office. Check opening hours and bookings on the Park’s official website before you go, because access arrangements are updated often.
The most beautiful, walkable stretch starts at Porta San Sebastiano and continues southwards, where the ancient consular road fades into the countryside.
If you enjoyed walking inside ancient Rome, I also recommend Ostia Antica, the villa of Tiberius in Sperlonga and Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli.
And you, which monument on the Appian Way intrigues you most: the Circus of Maxentius, the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella or the villa with the unsolved crime of Herodes Atticus?
