Roman Road - Appian Way (Via Appia)

[Pauline]

Bill Thayer's website helped me figure out where to find parts of Via Flaminia last year, so I asked him (on Twitter) which Roman road we should look at next (we have also "done" the Via Domitia in France but I am still writing my notes). His recommendation is the Appian Way - Via Appia - from Rome south to Brindisi in Puglia.

I am starting my list of resources here and will post as I find out more. If anyone has information, please post.

• Bill Thayer walked Via Appia from Rome and describes a bit in his diary.
• Wikipedia - Appian Way
• Old thread on ST about Appian Way from Rome.
• Parco Regionale Dell'Appia Antica - I think this covers the part in Rome.
• New York Times - Past Catches Up With the Queen of Roads, By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO, APRIL 5, 2008

(Bill also suggested Via Augusta in Spain.)

 

[Valerie]

The Via Appia comes through Basilicata! Come on back down and we'll show you some places!

 

[Pauline]

Wandering Italy has a good map of the Via Appia. It is on this page:
Wandering Italy - Via Traiana Map and Travel Guide, A Puglia Itinerary Following a Roman Shortcut on the Appian Way

I see that it did go through Basilicata!

{tried to link to that map and have it display here, but it won't}

 

[Valerie]

An old bridge that was part of the Via Appia, under the modern highway...

 

[Pauline]

You took us to that bridge!! I can write a Day Trip for it

 

[BrianD]

You took us to that bridge!! I can write a Day Trip for it

Hi Pauline and Valerie

I'm a new member and just found this post. We'll be driving from Matera to the Adriatic, and it looks like we'll be passing the route of the Via Appia on the way there. We'd love to see that bridge (actually, we'd love to see any part of the Basilicata portion of the Via Appia, but the bridge looks particularly intriguing!)

Would you be able to describe how to find the bridge?

 

[Pauline]

I will email @Valerie to make sure she sees this. It is on (under) the main highway that goes from Potenza to Matera. I think you take the Trivigno exit, but Valerie will tell you.

We recently returned from two weeks in Basilicata. Have a look at my trip report. You and your family might enjoy visiting Castelmezzano, a mountain town just off that highway, east of Trivigno (two exits past the Trivigno exit if I remember right). We have notes here - Day Trips - Castelmezzano.

 

[Valerie]

Hi Brian @BrianD

If you are going from Matera towards the Adriatic, that will take you the opposite direction (to Puglia). But if you want to make a jaunt over towards the hills and mountains of central Basilicata, there is much to see.

The old bridge is at Campomaggiore, and spans the Basento River underneath the modern highway (SS 407, AKA "la Basentana"). You exit at Campomaggiore and go to the left. Don't follow the signs up to the town but turn left on the frontage road (there may or may not still be a sign indicating Ponte della Vecchia, and may be one for an auto mechanic); at another fork in the road stay left. (You're on a frontage road that skirts the highway, heading in the direction of the mountains.) You'll pass the communal indoor swimming pool then come to a partially-built commercial complex. Where the road curves to the right and starts to go uphill, you want to park and then walk down the gravel/dirt track that leads down to the river and the bridge.

While you're there...if you go up to Campomaggiore, go past the modern town and follow the signs to Campomaggiore Vecchio. It's a ghost town that also has some interesting sculptures, and they put on a big multimedia show every August called Citta dell'Utopia.

Pauline mentioned Castelmezzano, which is really breathtaking (and you can fly the zip line Volo dell'Angelo).

 

[Pauline]

@BrianD if you are not going west into Basilicata, but only east into Puglia, there is another good Roman site there - Egnazia - the remains of a Roman city. It is on the coast, south of Monopoli. www.egnaziaonline.it

Roman road in Egnazia​

 

[Pauline]

Another photo of that small bridge under the highway in Basilicata.

 

[BrianD]

Thanks Pauline and Valerie!

You're right about the route, Valerie. Although it's out of the way to our destination that day, I still think (hope!) we could fit it in. I think it would be a great way to show our kids just how long the Via Appia really was.

Thanks for the extra picture, Pauline. Judging from the dirt road in the back, it looks like the bridge is still in use? Amazing.

Our time will be tight that day--up and over to the Adriatic for one last quick visit to a beach and then up to Bevagna in Umbria for a day or two at the Mercato del Gaite medieval fest. It's a lot to try to do in a day, but hopefully we'll be able to make it work. We love driving through mountains and Basilicata looks beautiful, so that might actually be an added bonus to making a "detour" through Travigno!

Castelmezzano looks incredible (we have a 15-year old that would beg us to do the zipline), and Egnazia is exactly the type of thing we had in mind when visiting the South. Too many places and too little time!

 

[Pauline]

One more photo of that bridge. Only low vehicles can use it!

 

[Anne]

Castelmezzano looks incredible (we have a 15-year old that would beg us to do the zipline)

Brian, the zipline is amazing! I tried it a couple years ago (at age 51) ...made the return "flight" across and back. What a rush!!! I highly recommend it.

 

[Valerie]

Might be better as a day trip from Matera rather than trying to fit it into that long day up to Bevagna!