Trajan was an emperor who liked roads, and in about AD 109 he opened a new one to shorten the journey from Rome to Brindisi, the port for Greece and the East. The old Via Appia went the long way round, down through the marshes and the coast, and the Via Traiana cut inland from Benevento through the hills of Irpinia and across the Apulian plain. This section, from Beneventum toward the old stop of Aequum Tuticum near modern Ariano Irpino, crosses a country of rolling grain fields, hill villages and wind turbines turning on the ridges.
Traces survive if you look. Near Buonalbergo a Roman bridge known locally as the Ponte delle Chianche still spans a stream, built from big carefully fitted blocks, and in places the line of the old road can be followed by field tracks. The modern road, the SS90 and its neighbours, follows the same logic as the Romans, taking the easiest line over the watershed, so the ride rolls through long open climbs and descents, with few tight corners and big skies. The surface is variable, and the provincial roads have patches, potholes after winter and the occasional herd of sheep.
This is a quiet, authentic corner of southern Italy, less visited than the coast. Villages like Buonalbergo and Sant'Arcangelo Trimonte are small, with a bar, a bakery and a church, and fuel is scarce, so tank up in Benevento, which has everything. Eat what the farms make: hard cheeses, cured pork, thick bread and strong red wine from Aglianico grapes, which the region is known for. Summers are hot and dry, with the wheat gone gold by June, and winters can be cold and windy, because these hills are exposed to the Apennine weather.
It helps to think of the whole road as a conversation with the past. Benevento's arch of Trajan, dated to the 110s, stood at the start of the route, and Brindisi had the other end, so every legionary, trader and pilgrim passed through this landscape. At a gentle pace, with a stop for a coffee in one of the villages, it is a day that makes more sense than any museum label.