Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing and The Via Appia in Rome
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
316 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 42
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 316 km round trip from Minturno - roughly 6 h 42 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Via Appia at the Itri Pass, Appia. Regina Viarum, The Via Appia in Rome and back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing
Where the Via Appia crossed the River Garigliano, the Romans built a town, and armies have been fighting over the crossing ever since. Minturnae was founded as a Roman colony in the late fourth century BC on the border between Lazio and Campania, and its ruins lie beside the river near the modern town of Minturno: a theatre still used for summer performances, a forum, temples, baths, a stretch of the Via Appia's paving and the arches of an aqueduct striding across the fields. A small museum displays statues and finds from the site.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing is where the day begins. Next is The Via Appia at the Itri Pass.
2. The Via Appia at the Itri Pass
Ancient Rome's first great highway, the Via Appia, was begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, and it ran from Rome south to Capua and later on to Brindisi on the Adriatic. At Itri, in the hills behind the Gulf of Gaeta, it squeezes through a narrow pass between the Monti Aurunci and the sea, and the road still crosses the same gap today. A stretch of the old paved line survives near the pass, with its big, rounded basalt blocks, though you will need to get off the main road and look carefully to find it.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia at the Itri Pass comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 43 km on.
3. Via Appia. Regina Viarum
South of the Alban Hills, the Via Appia drops onto the Pontine plain and runs dead straight for mile after mile, as if the Roman engineers had laid it with a ruler, which in a sense they did. This was the Regina Viarum, the queen of roads, begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to link Rome with Capua, and later extended to Brindisi. Here, near Sezze Scalo and Latina, the road crossed the Pontine Marshes, a malarial swamp that defeated would-be drainers from the Romans to the popes. Travellers sometimes took a canal boat alongside the road instead, and the poet Horace complained about the mosquitoes and the frogs keeping him awake on that very journey.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 91 km into the recorded legs you reach Via Appia. Regina Viarum. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 42 km on.
4. Via Appia. Regina Viarum
The Romans called it the queen of roads, and in 2024 UNESCO agreed, listing the Via Appia from Rome to Brindisi as a World Heritage site. Begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, it was the first great Roman road, built to move armies south toward Campania and later extended to the port of Brindisi, the gateway to Greece and the East.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Via Appia. Regina Viarum, about halfway. Next is The Via Appia in Rome.
5. The Via Appia in Rome
Rome's regina viarum, the queen of roads, leaves the city through the Porta San Sebastiano and heads south-east toward Capua and eventually Brindisi. It was begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, and the first miles out of Rome are now protected within the Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica. The stretch of the old road is lined with tombs, ruins of villas, catacombs and umbrella pines, and the original paving stones, huge polygonal basalt blocks, still surface parts of it.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 316 km.
Leg by leg
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing to The Via Appia at the Itri Pass
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing → The Via Appia at the Itri Pass is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia at the Itri Pass to Via Appia. Regina Viarum
The Via Appia at the Itri Pass → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Via Appia. Regina Viarum to Via Appia. Regina Viarum
Via Appia. Regina Viarum → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Via Appia. Regina Viarum to The Via Appia in Rome
Via Appia. Regina Viarum → The Via Appia in Rome is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia in Rome to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum
The Via Appia in Rome → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum to back through The Via Appia at the Itri Pass
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through The Via Appia at the Itri Pass is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia at the Itri Pass to Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing
back through The Via Appia at the Itri Pass → Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.