Appian Way Italy

Legendary

Known as the "Queen of Roads", this ancient road was built in 312 BC to move military supplies.

Photo by Paul Stephenson

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In 71 BC, after crushing the slave revolt led by Spartacus, the Roman general Marcus Crassus lined the Appian Way with 6,000 crucified slaves spaced roughly 40 yards apart, stretching all the way from Capua to Rome.

It was a message to anyone considering rebellion. The road that carried that message was already 240 years old.

The Appian Way was built in 312 BC by the Roman censor Appius Claudius Caecus, making it one of the oldest roads in the world still partially in use today. Appius built the first section to move troops rapidly south during the Samnite Wars, connecting Rome to Capua.

It was the first Roman road built specifically for military purposes.

The road earned the nickname Regina Viarum, the "Queen of Roads," a title coined by the Roman poet Statius.

Its construction was revolutionary. Workers laid a deep foundation of heavy stone blocks, topped with tightly fitted polygonal slabs of volcanic basalt that locked together without mortar. Those same stones still carry foot traffic today.

By 244 BC the road had been extended south to Brindisi, on the heel of Italy's boot, where ships crossed to Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. At its full length it stretched around 350 miles.

Roman law forbade burial inside city walls, so wealthy families competed to build the most impressive mausoleums along the roadside. The Catacombs of San Callisto and San Sebastiano, where thousands of early Christians were buried underground, lie just off the road.

In 2024 the Appian Way was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Walk or rent a bike along the Appia Antica Regional Park just outside Rome, where you can follow the original basalt stones past ancient tombs and crumbling aqueducts. Sunday is the best day, when the road is closed to cars. The Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Circus of Maxentius are both within easy reach on foot.