The Appian Way Today, vestige of a Great Utopia

Proceeding of the International Scientifical Conference.Volume III.

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THE APPIAN WAY TODAY, VESTIGE OF A GREAT UTOPIA

Clelia Cirillo1

Luigi Scarpa2

Ugo Zannini3

Giovanna Acampora4

Marina Russo5

1-4-5CNR Naples Section Italy2Università Federico II

3Archeoclub d’Italia

Abstract: The road network designed and built by the Romans to realize their great utopia ofpower, gave life to a landscape consisting of a broad set of territories and peoples united intheir diversity and their distances from the immense road network. Until the eighteenthcentury the European civilization did not know a road system more efficient than that built bythe Roman classical civilization. The survival of the tracks of this extended networkrepresents a constant in most of the Mediterranean basin. The great utopia of Ancient Rometo govern the whole world had its ratio in its road network as the impressive road networkexceeding 120,000 km, linked most of Europe extending to the Mediterranean basin. Althoughthe great utopian dream of ruling the world was finally broken by the descent of the Germanswhich took place right thanks to so well conceived roads, still we perceive and live this greatutopia. The suggestion of this great utopia is returned to us in Northern Campania by ancienttraces being discernible in the sites of archaeological interest that discretely arise to guardthe historical memory.Keywords: ancient toponomy, Appian way, Campania landscapes, GIS mapping

Utopia was running on the Appian Way shaping the landscapes along theway

The landscape of Northern Campania, already characterized by the work of theItalic man in Roman times was greatly transformed by one of the most powerfulworks in that time: the Appian Way. The realization of this important road arteryrepresented for the Roman civilization the birth of the complex and efficientnetwork of roads that connected Rome to the whole Mediterranean basin,becoming not only indispensable for the wide ranging territorial accessibility butit also a fundamental factor of the anthropic landscape. The route of the AppianWay in Northern Campania has long been among the least known and mostproblematic of the Regina Viarum despite being the most described part by theancient literature; the utopia that profuse such a tenacity in the realization of thisimportant trait of the Empire road system, can be recalled if we retrace theancient paths. This revival of ancient ardor is made possible by making thereconstruction of the ancient landscape of Campania hinterland placed in theNorthern part of the region examining the archaeological remains andcontextualizing them in the stratigraphic basin, including settlements,infrastructures and everything related to the work of man in a continuous


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dialogue with literary, epigraphic and mapping sources. The change in the routeof the Appian Way which took place in the sixth century AC, a deviated path ofan innermost line, is the most tangible sign of a deep transformation suffered bythe landscape of Northern Campania. Through well-documented studies, it wasfound that the settlements of Minturnae, Sinuessa and Foro Pompilio, importanteconomic centers for the production and exportation of wine, were disappearingsimultaneously with this variant. It is with the Little Ice Age in the Early MiddleAges (500/750 AC) that the viability in this area is undermined due to thewetlands which in the previous period, known as the Roman Warm Period(200/400 AC) involved only the soils adjacent to the Appian Way. In short, themicro-climatic changes that occurred in Northern Campania, beingchronologically ascertained, were the predominant causes for the change in thelandscape of this area; the recurrence of soils waterlogging together with theconcentration of rainfall events triggering a washing away, led to thedisappearance of the trait of the Appian Way from Minturnae to PonsCampanus. Furthermore, the deforestation perpetrated in the area to fuel thefurnaces of Northern Campania that produced hundreds of thousands ofamphorae caused the collapse of humus layers so as to cover the areas in thevalley floor. In this regard, the reconstruction of the ancient structure oflandscape in Roman times, has been useful to carry out the study on theextension of centuriations, whose faint traces, very evident to the left of the riverVolturno, testify the presence of a land surveying aimed at theintensive cultivation. The historical analysis of the evolution of the study areawas achieved by analyzing the state of the places shown in the maps drawn up inthe early nineteenth century on the basis of meticulous surveys carried out bysurveying engineers of the Officio Topografico of the Kingdom of Naples. TheRoman centuriation are the realization of a utopia, of a work rather thanpharaonic being unthinkable in its origin. At the beginning, even the Romans didnot perceive the value of the project that only causally expressed itself becauseof the continuous expansion of the conquered territory. Hundreds ofcenturiations have profoundly transformed the Italian landscape modifying itradically: dunes, holes, rivers and lakes cancelled and adapted to the new ruralorder as a function of a rural productivity of the period besides being the cutting-edge with quality products even at the limits of technical possibilities given bythe mechanical means of the moment.


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Fig. 1. Internal variant of the Appian Way in Northern Campania.

The roads are undoubtedly the key element of the centuriations. The AppianWay represents the element of military and political penetration, which alsotakes on the task of axis on which the centuriations will developed: so muchhappens in Terracina but also in Ager Falernus. In this area the ancient divisionof the land survives in road network, irrigation canals, irrigation ditches andcadastral boundaries; these are, therefore, useful elements for the reconstructionof the landscape punctuated by the grid made by the Roman land surveyors. InAger Falernus it is evident how it is important to apply the comparison ofhistorical cartography to read the centurial fabric; the systems for agrariandivision are indeed perfectly legible even in the most updated maps of theRepublican Age realized in the plain of Campania as a result of the defeat ofHannibal.


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Fig. 2. Sessa Aurunca (Caserta). Cadastral map with the route of the Appian Way atSinuessa (archaeological restrictions DM 28/05/1980 with changes and additions). See

Zannini 2009, page. 39. Note how in the current cadastral fragmentation, whereSinuessa is localized, the ancient urban organization of the colony perpetuates itself.

The Appian Way then becomes the means through which the economic,agricultural and trading policy takes place as early as the fourth century. In fact,at the beginning of the third century, as a result of heavy investments betweenSouthern Lazio and Northern Campania, along the Appian Way, it is not acoincidence that two of the most prestigious wine products of the Roman worldwill arise, Caecubum and Falernum. Clear example of a series of componentsthat have heavily marked the territory. The Appian Way and minor roads,centuriations, the realization of harbors and river ports and the organization ofthe landscape as a function of the agricultural activity for intensive exploitation,lay the foundations for the creation of quality products. The preference of thecoastal strip in the construction of the Appian Way is not casual as during designand production it will create hard problems to which the engineers will finduseful resolutions (the Pontine Marshes but also the area of marshy Minturnae).A gradual work which over the centuries has become pharaonic able to indeliblytransform the Italian landscape in the subsequent period but, although withdifferent cultures, the Roman imprint was not cancelled. The start ofconstruction of the Fossa Neronis has forever changed the the pedoclimaticenvironment leading to the definitive disappearance of the Caecubum. TheRoman interventions in the lagoons for the creation of safe havens (see forexample the port of Classe) have transformed the appearance of a territory with


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respect to the pre-Roman times. With the fall of the Roman Empire the neworders did not have the strength to change the landscape that has remainedsubstantially unchanged providing a useful cornerstone for the successors tobuild the political-administrative web leaving people to their subsistenceagriculture in places already forged in Roman times: pagi, vici, conciliabula andfora in some cases are so abandoned but in favor of other more centers of theRoman era. There are few new administrative realities born in the absence of theRoman presence: the archaeology is a witness of it. As a matter of fact largecontinuity of life and not break. The scheme follows this trend: in Roman timesmaximum occupancy of the territory with the implementation of importantinfrastructures and with the trend of the landscape towards the agriculturalneeds, then the disintegration of the system with the fall of the Roman Empirefor only 40% of rural centers survives at this stage in the course of the highMiddle Ages policy.A sample area to highlight what has been said about Northern Campania:Although being part of important pre-Roman settlements, immediately, as earlyas 340 BC (Vulgate) the Romans with viritane assignments distribute two acresper settler, hereby being centuriations in close connection with the Appian Way.Today big and important road networks in joining two major agglomerationsleave behind an area that does not become part of the viability. The Appian Wayis comparable to a current state road along which shopping centers, companies,economic activities find the right place in terms of a road which becomes apreferential axis for trading. The Appian Way represented a utopia because itdoes not only tells the Roman military force or their engineering skills butperforms a slow transformation of the landscape that still pervades ourcountryside and our municipal system. Following the Roman conquest of Italyand from the outset of Southern Italy, the winners, while occupying theterritories, imposed their power through the use of politico-administrativemechanisms giving rise to a deep transformation of the Italian landscape: It isthe evidence that the environment is also the result of political choices.


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Fig. 3. Route of the Appian Way from Rome to Brindisi.

With its 365 miles (about 540 Km) the Appian Way characterized and stillcharacterizes the landscape of Lazio, Campania and Apulia with rows of pineand cypress trees. Leaving Rome, precisely from Porta Capena, ancient gate ofthe Republican walling, the road went on his way on the rectification of anexisting road, the Alban Way, which led from Rome to Alban Hills. In the firstlarge segment from Rome to Terracina, it was realized a straight road of 90 km,which alternating earthworks with heavy terraces, stepping over the Alban Hillsand getting through the Pontine Plain, reached the Tyrrhenian coast in Terracina.Out of this maritime colony, the road followed a difficult hilly route bypassingMonte Sant’Angelo, on whose top stood the temple of Jupiter Anxur anddescending on the opposite side of the mountain, reached the plain of Fondi.This difficult crossing was modified by the Emperor Trajan (98-117 AC), whoordered the cutting of the cliff of Pisco Montano thus allowing the road to passclose to the coast. From Terracina the Appian Way took the plain and crossing itwith a long straight road reached the town of Fondi. The way to Capuaproceeded to the steep gorges of Aurunci Mountains reaching the coast inFormia and proceeding towards Campania Felix. After having crossed AgerFalernus, the Appian Way, rejoining the Latin Way in a bend of Volturno River,reached Casilinum the river port of Capua; once crossed the river by a largebridge, heading straight to the western gate of Capua it came to an end. Fromthis city, the Appian Way, in a second phase, continuing to Benevento reachedBrindisi in 190 BC, the most important sea port that connected the ImperialRome to Greece and the Orient.The Appian Way, passing through different types of landscapes once morehumanized and once more natural, assumed different connotations from time totime. Starting from an urban environment, the area of present Piazzale NumaPompilio in Rome, the ancient way advanced in the Almone Valley (today Valledella Caffarella) characterized by a suggestive agricultural landscape; going up


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the Alban Hills, tracing a more ancient path derived from a lava flow (CapeBove) it reached a hill from which it might be appreciated the view of theRoman countryside, a view made incomparable by the presence of volcaniclakes and dense woody vegetation. The road then continued through olivegroves, vineyards and chestnut woods descended into the Valley of Ariccia, avolcanic crater with the bottom covered with cultivated fields and slopescovered with natural vegetation formations.This landscape being so rich in nature matched with Pons Aricius one of themost ingenious Roman road artifacts still existing; the viaduct built in II centuryBC, supported the Appian Way in the ascent from the valley floor to the crest ofthe Pardo Hill for 200 meters Pardo coming to Ariccia, a staging post that inimperial times was transformed into a city. Once passed through Alban Hills andcrossed the Pontine marshes which now offer the typical reclaimed landscapethat replaced the wild bush, the Appian Way reached Terracina and then crossedanother marshy plain, the Plain of Fondi, one of the many swamps that can befound along the Tyrrhenian coast. Prior to the reclamation woods and brushesdominated the the plain, while today the landscape consists of olive groves,vineyards and wheat fields; once crossed this plain, the road reached the city ofFondi through the main decuman. Climbing up Aurunci Mountains, the AppianWay is found to pass through the thick vegetation of the gorges, windingthrough hills covered with woods alternating with the Mediterranean scrub;hence descending to Itri it reaches Formia, a town characterized by the typicallandscape of the Tyrrhenian coast alternate beaches with stretches of rockycoast. Formia was one of the most important cities served by the Via AppianWay between Rome and Capua. Its seaside location and easy accessibilityoffered by the easy connection with Rome made it one of the most sought aftertourist centers by Roman patricians, as demonstrated by the numerous villasfound along the Formia coast. Proceeding towards Campania plain, once crossedMinturno, passing through the decumanus maximus, and climbed over the riverLiri-Garigliano, it reaches Sinuessa (currently Mondragone). It is from here thatwedging in the narrow strip of land between the sea and Massico Mount, itmoving away from the coast to Ager Falernus, the campaign between VolturnoRiver and Massico Mount, whose landscape, as seen above, was characterizedby the design of the soils outlined by the Roman cadastral plan. After crossingRiver Savone, the road reached Capua on Volturno River thus concluding hisfirst trait in an urban landscape.


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Fig. 4. Section of the Appian Way between Capua and Sinuessa in the 1813 map with theidentification of the land use.

Conclusions

As part of the study of landscapes, the work presented here is also an example ofresearch aimed at the definition of interpretative frameworks of historicallandscapes. A careful study of texts and historical maps together with the photo-interpretative analysis aiming at identifying changes in the main morphologicaland structural characteristics of the geographical area being examined, helped toidentify the correct path of analysis and research of the decisive elements for thereconstruction of the ancient landscape of Northern Campania, crossed inseveral places by the road network of the ancient Roman world. Thereconstruction of the ancient landscape is critical to outline the identity of thecontemporary one, the memory of the oldest traces greatly contributes to outlinethe profile of the present cultural landscape. It is precisely the sites ofarchaeological interest to set themselves discretely guarding the historicalmemory. The landscape of Northern Campania, already characterized by theanthropic work of Italic peoples, in Roman times was heavily transformed fromone of the most powerful works made at that time: the Appian Way. Therealization of this important road artery was for the Roman civilization the birthof the complex and efficient network of roads that connected Rome to the wholebasin of the Mediterranean, becoming not only indispensable for the territorialwide-ranging accessibility but also a fundamental factor of the anthropiclandscape, an element animated from a great utopia.

Summary

The road was been an essential element for the realization of the utopia of the universality ofthe Roman Empire. Although the creation of a vast Empire was an unfinished utopia, the roadnetwork, designed and built by the Romans to carry out the unlimited extension of theirpower, gave life to a landscape consisting of a broad set of territories and peoples united in


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their diversity and their distances from the immense road network. Until the eighteenthcentury the European civilization did not know a road system more efficient than that built bythe Roman classical civilization. The survival of the tracks of this extended networkrepresents a constant in most of the Mediterranean basin. The great utopia of Ancient Rome togovern the whole world had its ratio in its road network as the impressive road networkexceeding 120,000 km, linked most of Europe extending to the Mediterranean basin.Although the great utopian dream of ruling the world was finally broken by the descent of theGermans which took place right thanks to so well conceived roads, still we perceive and livethis great utopia. Over the centuries, the access strategies of these ancient roads haveconsiderably changed and therefore the roads used by centuries, driven by the fury ofconquest, were used by pilgrims travelling as carriers of messages in the name of Christ.Although the Roman road system underwent a significant degradation in the Middle Ages, notall road traits were lost as we still walk and use the one that was the first real road revolution.The first major way, to be considered a highway ahead of its time, which gives rise to thisutopian great infrastructure is the Appian Way; it was designed in accordance with a specifictechnical requirement and on the basis of a specific strategic plan. The Appian Way through amostly straight route, in its first arrangement was intended to enhance the expansion of Rometowards the South of the Italian peninsula before reaching the Ionian coast making it thenatural communication channel between Rome and the East and showing in its one-dimensionality an essential factor for the realization of utopia aiming at realizing an idealcommunity that did not exist anywhere but at the same time able to be in all places. Theconstruction of this famous road began in 312 BC from Rome, once exceeded the AurunciMounts reached Formia then heading, with a bridge crossing the river Garigliano, to thefertile Campania plains and reaching Capua. Only in 244 BC the route was finished with itsextension to Brindisi. The suggestion of this great utopia is returned to us in NorthernCampania by ancient traces being discernible in the sites of archaeological interest thatdiscretely arise to guard the historical memory. Here the landscape, already characterized bythe anthropic work of the Italic peoples, and strongly transformed by the passage of the road,looks like a startgate, an open door to the unfinished utopia waiting to be realized through theuse of the ancient road among the least known and most problematic even though it was themost described route in the literature.

Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Dr. Laura Arena, CNR ICIB, who, with her preciouscontribution of translation in the English language, has allowed the work accomplishment

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Clelia Cirillo CNR Istituto di BiologiaAgroambientale e Forestale –Naples Section (Italy)

Luigi Scarpa Università Federico II – Scuola diMaster di Pianificazione Urbana

Ugo Zannini Archeoclub d’Italia

Giovanna Acampora CNR Istituto di BiologiaAgroambientale e Forestale –Naples Section (Italy)Email:[email protected]

Marina Russo CNR Istituto di BiologiaAgroambientale e Forestale –Naples Section (Italy)

mailto:[email protected]


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The Appian Way Today, vestige of a Great Utopia

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