Rome - Via Appia Antica

Outside the Porta San Sebastiano in the Aurelian Walls is the Via Appia Antica, one of the oldest and most important of the Roman consular highways. It was built about 300 B.C. by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to link Rome with Capua and was extended to Brindisi about 190 B.C. The road is now metalled for almost its entire length. From the port of Brindisi communications were established across the Mediterranean with the eastern territories of the Empire. Just outside Rome, running parallel with the road, can be seen the ruins of some of the aqueducts which supplied the city with water. On either side of the road are the remains of tombs belonging to the aristocratic families of Rome - built outside the city since burials were not permitted within its walls. The ruins of these tombs and memorial stones combine with the lines and cypresses of the Roman Campagna to give the Via Appia Antica its characteristic and picturesque aspect.