Along the Appian Way

Today we begin with the remains of a 60 m long Roman cryptoporticus, a covered walk way which may have been an emporium and continue to the Ponte Leproso, a Roman bridge which linked the Via Appia to Benevento, as well as to impressive remains of the Roman theatre, originally built under Hadrian and seating 10,000. We end the morning with a visit to the spectacular Arch of Trajan, built in 114 in order to mark the entrance to the city from the Via Traiana, an extension of the Via Appia. After lunch, we visit the Museo del Sannio, which houses important artefacts from the Samnite cities of Telesia and Caudium, as well as impressive remains from the city’s Temple of Isis built under Domitian. Nearby we find the UNESCO listed exquisite 8^th century church of Santa Sofia Santa Sofia which was the most important church for the Lombards after their defeat at the hands of the Franks. This fascinating day ends with a visit to the Cathedral built using Roman spolia and notable for its fine 12^th century bronze doors.

We leave Benevento and journey up the Via Appia to Capua where we visit a host of diverse and important sites. The first of these is the amphitheatre of Capua, which dates to the 1^st century AD and was preceded by an earlier structure which was utilised by the famous gladiatorial school which produced Spartacus. We proceed to the amazing, nearby Mithraeum, one of the most complete shrines of this Persian god in Italy, which includes a stunning ancient fresco and intricate stucco work. After lunch, we visit the 11^th century church of Sant’Angelo in Formis built on top of an ancient temple of Diana and which contains a precious cycle of frescoes painted by Byzantine masters and their Italian pupils. Our last visit in Capua is to the Museo Provinciale Campano, which has a uniquely important collection of statues depicting the Mater Matuta, the goddess of the dawn and beginnings. We then drive to our hotel in Gaeta seeing the Ponte Romano which carried the Appian Way en route.

We proceed along the Appian Way to Minturnae, originally a city belonging to the ancient Italian people known as the Ausones whose Roman remains include an impressive theatre and aqueduct, as well as a Capitolium. Here we also see one of the best-preserved sections of the Appian Way that exist. We continue to Formiae famed for being the locus where Cicero was killed in 43 BC. Here we visit the Archaeological Museum which contains a good collection of imperial statuary, as well as artefacts and frescoes from some of the sumptuous Roman villas which dotted the coast life. The day ends with a visit to one of the largest Roman cisterns in Italy, the so called Cisternone whose capacity was 7000 cubic metres and was only discovered in 2000.

The odyssey proceeds with a morning’s visit to splendid Terracina, a city which seamlessly blends its ancient remains within its medieval layout. We start with a visit the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, the city’s tutelary deity whose sanctuary was placed on a nearby hill. Venturing to the city, we explore the remains of the forum, which remains the city’s main piazza whose ancient slabs are still visible and whose entrance is marked by a quadrifrons arch under which are remains of the Via Appia. We proceed to the remains of an impressive Capitolium and to the Cathedral where we note the remains of the ancient Temple of Roma and Augustus. We end the morning with a visit to the nearby remains of the Roman theatre. After lunch, we visit Ariccia to see parts of the Via Appia, as well as the Catacombs of San Senatore, an erstwhile tufo quarry transformed into catacombs in the 3^rd century which preserve a number of frescoes, including Christ Pantocrator and San Senatore offered the crown of martyrdom. We end the day in Rome.

The road has led us to Rome and in the caput mundi we are able to explore some of the most impressive sections of any ancient road anywhere in the Roman empire. The day starts with the Porta San Sebastiano, the largest and one of the best-preserved gates of the Aurelian Walls where the Via Appia entered Rome. Here we visit the Museum of the Walls which explores the Aurelian Walls built in the 3^rd century AD to protect the city in the less certain times of the late antique period and which gives access to a stretch of the Aurelian Walls which we can walk along. We continue down a well preserved section of the Appian Way to the church of Dominus Quo Vadis and proceed to another part of the Via Appia which includes the late 3^rd century AD Circus of Maxentius, the most complete Circus in Rome, the late republican Tomb of Caecilia Metella, and the Capo di Bove complex, the thermal baths of the once sumptuous villa once owned by Herodes Atticus.

The Appian Way was a conduit to Rome and today we visit Trajan’s Market, the impressive commercial centre built by Apollodorus of Damascus as part of Trajan’s Forum. Here we explore the museum of the Forum and the remains of once splendid shops, taverns and offices. We continue to the Imperial Fora to consider the end point for goods along the Via Appia. In the afternoon we have free time to visit Rome, the centre of the ancient world.

Time permitting, we have a last walk around Rome before returning home.