This 350-mile Path Is Italy's Oldest Road-and It Runs Through Idyllic Landscapes and Stunning Beach Towns

"Once again, I had lost my husband under an ancient arena. On a clear day last September, Darius, an archaeologist, disappeared into a maze of crumbling stone corridors under the Amphitheater of Capua, the second-largest arena in antiquity after Rome's Colosseum. This is our normal. Often, we head into an archaeological site together-crawling through aqueducts, exploring acropolises-and Darius doesn't come out for hours."

"Built between 312 B.C. and the fourth century A.D., it was Italy's first superhighway, beginning just south of the Colosseum and ending in the port of Brindisi, Puglia, with monuments like military outposts and mausoleums holding prominent figures (such as early popes) along the way. In 71 B.C., 6,000 of the soldiers who followed the slave-turned-rebel Spartacus were crucified along this very route. In 2024, UNESCO added the road that carried an empire to its World Heritage list."

An archaeologist disappeared into crumbling corridors beneath the Amphitheater of Capua, reflecting frequent archaeological exploration and time spent underground. The Via Appia, constructed from 312 B.C. to the fourth century A.D., served as Italy's first major military-built superhighway from south of the Colosseum to Brindisi, lined with outposts and mausoleums. Thousands of Spartacus's soldiers were crucified along its length. In 2024 UNESCO designated the road a World Heritage site. Over 25 years of travel revealed varied preservation: intact basalt stretches near the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, urban absorption in places like Terracina, isolated fragments, archaeological parks, and much of the route overlaid by modern SS7 asphalt.

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