The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu and 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
432 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 03
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.
From Buonalbergo it runs 432 km to Buonalbergo; allow about 7 h 03 of riding. The stops in between: The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia, The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum, 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with and back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Scenic road chapters
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → 18th-Century Royal Palace
The ride follows The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → 18th-Century Royal Palace for 84 km.
Chapter facts
Length
84 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu is where the day begins. Next is The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia.
2. The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia
There is nothing here that announces itself. What you have is a long, almost featureless landscape of grain, stubble and the odd masseria, and under it the line of a Roman road. The Via Traiana was commissioned by the emperor Trajan around 109 AD as a faster, drier alternative to the old Appia between Benevento and Brindisi, and the stretch from Aecae to Herdonia is one of the places where you can follow its logic: flat, direct, and aimed at the next town.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum.
3. The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
East of Benevento, the Via Appia leaves the Calore valley and heads into the green, rolling hills of Irpinia on its long way to Brindisi, and near Venticano and Pietradefusi you are travelling over one of its quieter stretches. The road the Romans laid here is mostly lost under fields and later tracks, but the line still guides the landscape, and a short way south-east lie the remains of Aeclanum, near Mirabella Eclano, a Roman town that grew rich on the traffic. Benevento itself was the great junction: from here the original Appia ran over the hills to Venusia and Tarentum, while the Emperor Trajan built a faster route, the Via Traiana, through the plains of Apulia. His triumphal arch, raised in AD 114, still stands in Benevento, its reliefs remarkably sharp.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum. Next is 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with.
4. 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
When Charles of Bourbon, king of Naples, decided to build a royal palace to rival Versailles, he did not do things by halves. The Reggia di Caserta, begun in 1752 to a design by Luigi Vanvitelli, is one of the largest royal palaces in the world, with some twelve hundred rooms, four inner courtyards, a theatre and a grand staircase that has appeared in films including Star Wars, where it stood in for the palace of Naboo. Behind it, a park stretches for three kilometres up the hillside, with fountains, statues and a long chain of pools and cascades fed by an aqueduct that Vanvitelli built specially, ending at a great waterfall at the top.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia comes up about 375 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu to The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu → The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia to The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia → The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum to 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with to back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with → back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum to back through The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → back through The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia to The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
back through The Appia Traiana from Aecae to Herdonia → The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.