Rome History – Appian Way

The Appian Way (Appia Antica and Parco dell’Appia Antica) is a regional protected area also called Appian Park. The Park’s aims are conservation and enhancement of its territory to allow people to enjoy the extraordinary scenic beauty, to learn about and study this fundamental historic, artistic and natural heritage.

The Park covers an area of around 3,400 hectares. Within this area are 16km of the via Appia Antica and its adjacent features, the valle della Caffarella (200 hectares), the via Latina archaeological area, the Aqueducts archaeological area (240 hectares), the Tormarancia estate(220 hectares) and the Farnesiana area (180 hectares).

312 B.C.: The consul Appio Claudio gave his name to the route of a new road to reach Campania and then Brindisi. This new road was paved with large smooth stones that fitted together perfectly, laid on a bed of gravel that ensured stability and drainage. This meant that it was viable in any weather and with any means of transport. With this revolutionary technique the Republic and the Empire was to build the vast network of roads throughout the Roman world. The roads are almost always straight, about 4,10m wide, a width that allows two-way traffic, with two footpaths to the side and mileposts. The Appia quickly earnt itself the title of ‘Regina viarum’, the queen of roads. Numerous burial constructions are to be found along the first few miles of the road in accordance with the law that forbade burial within the holy walls of Pomerio: there are monuments belonging to important families, columbaria built by confraternities who formed to give their members a decent burial and underground cemeteries belonging to ethnic or religious groups. We can see here the stratification of a priceless historic, cultural and artistic heritage.

In 268 B.C. the via Appia was extended to Benevento, and in 191 B.C. it reached Brindisi, the main port for Greece and the Orient. This made it the most important line of comunication in the Mediterranean. It is only when the Roman empire falls both in the West and in the East that the importance of the Regina viarum as a trade and transport route begins to wane.

The decline of the via Appia was slow at first, then precipitous. In the ninth and tenth century there were large estates belonging to the Church around the road, like Santa Maria Nova. The monuments were under constant attack by the weather and man; the Appia became a quarry for reusable building blocks and stone for making lime. From the eleventh century on St. Peter’s began to hand out these properties to the families of the Roman barons and counts. The Tuscolo counts turned the sepulchre of Cecilia Metella into a fortress. In 1300 Bonifacio VIII Caetani gave this castle to his family: around it grew up a fortified township that spread over the road and cut it off. The Caetani imposed heavy tolls on goods and travellers, so an alternative route was used: the via Appia Nuova, from Porta San Giovanni.

At the end of the sixteenth century Gregory XIII has the via Appia Nuova paved. The Appia Antica is by now relegated to a simple suburban road. At the end of the seventeenth century Innocent XII has a road linking the two Appia built: the Appia Pignatelli. The remaining monuments suffer further dismantling. The growing interest in “archaeology” unleashes the hunt for remains and the digs on and around the Appia Antica supply the museums and collections all over Europe. A new important change in ownership occurs, the Torlonia family become the main agricultural land owners in the area. Large areas are also in the hands of the Boncompagni Ludovisi family.

The idea of a huge archaeological park to cover the area between Colonna Traiana and Castelli Romani first comes to light in Napoleonic times. The governor De Tournon involves artists such as Valadier and Antonio Canova in the project. Subsequently Pope Pius IX launches a restoration project for the Appia Antica entrusted to Luigi Canina, a Piedmontese architect and archaeologist: his work on the Regina Viarum had an effect still visible today. After the Unification, Rodolfo Lanciani, Guido Baccelli and Ruggero Bonghi propose the first projects for the restoration of the Appia Antica and from these proposals the “archaeological walk” was created between the Circo Massimo and Terme di Caracalla. In 1931 the via Appia Antica was described in the town plans as a “large park” surrounded by a “buffer zone”.

After the Second World War the Appia Antica ran the risk of being buried under concrete. There were new, crazy “detailed” plans for residential building (primarily for religious institutions) or even for housing estates a few metres from the monuments. A construction company the Società Generale Immobiliare proposed a project for a luxury residential area to be built in the Villa dei Quintili. The construction of the Grande Raccordo Anulare ring-road cut the Appia Antica in two at the seventh mile, damage that has only recently been repaired. In 1955 Pope Pius XII blessed the first stone of an Olympic Stadium to be built on S.Callisto’s catacombs. There is more. Alongside the big projects there was a continuous and equally destructive phenomenon, that of small unauthorised projects, houses built overnight, farm-houses renovated without planning permission and occupation of land and buildings to set up uncontrolled industrial activities.

Source | parcoappiaantica.it