Regina viarum (queen of roads), insignis (famous), celeberrima (renowned): poets and writers of Rome always remarked the importance of the Appian Way, the largest, the oldest and fastest road ever laid out to connect Rome to the South of Italy. Let’s bike along it on a sunny, traffic-free Sunday to enjoy a peaceful atmosphere and a beautiful landscape a step away from the noisy and crowded city.

4 hours - by bike

Built in 312 b.C. and named after Appius Claudius Caecus, a Roman magistrate, it connected Rome with Capua (a major junction near Naples) and later on it was stretched 430 miles to the port of Brindisi – the gateway to the East – where boats sailed for Greece and Egypt. Many other such roads spread around Rome afterwards, reaching the furthest sites and making a good road system extremely useful for the expansion and the prosperity of the Empire.

Outstanding and picturesque ruins are lining the sides of the Appian Way such as Emperor Caracalla’s public bath-house (to be seen from the outside), the best preserved among the Roman public baths from the early III century AD; the Gate of St. Sebastian, a well preserved ancient Roman city gate, set in the massive walls built in the late III century AD; Emperor Maxentius’s circus, a very interesting horse track used for chariot races that could seat about ten thousand spectators; Cecilia Metella’s Mausoleum, one of the largest and best preserved tombs flanking the ancient Appian Way, built for the daughter-in-law of Crassus, Rome’s richest man, in the I century b.C. and later rearranged as a stronghold of a 13th century custom house; a 14 feet wide section of huge basalt stones, the original paved road; the Quintili brothers’ Villa, the largest private residence along the way, built in the II century AD by two very rich and prominent Roman aristocrats. The villa had its own private bath-house and heated bed-rooms, entirely covered with beautiful marble decoration and fresco paintings, some still in its original setting.

The Christian Catacombs of San Sebastiano are the most peculiar of the attractions featuring along the Appian Way. Dug underground and containing thousands of corpses, including some popes  and martyrs, they display chapels and niches were the early Christians were buried, some decorated with fresco paintings.

Please, note: there are other catacombs in the area with different visiting schedules, the guide will choose whichever one is open on the day of each tour. The visit of the catacomb is led by local guides.