Why this ride
A 249 km round trip from Buonalbergo - roughly 5 h 33 in the saddle. On the way it passes The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum, The Santa Sofia complex, 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with and Historic Centre of Naples.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu and Historic Centre of Naples
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 249 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 33
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
52 km on The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with .
Chapter facts
- Length
- 52 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.
Read the complete The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
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 Via Appia on the route from Beneventum.
2. 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.
Read the complete The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Santa Sofia complex.
3. The Santa Sofia complex
Benevento has been a crossroads for about as long as there has been a road to cross, but the Santa Sofia complex belongs to a particular chapter, the Lombards. In the eighth century the duchy of Benevento was the last Lombard power in southern Italy, and Duke Arechis II built Santa Sofia as his palace church, around the 760s. It is a strange, beautiful building, a hexagon surrounded by a ring of columns and walls, with an odd star-like plan that has puzzled architects ever since. Inside the plain stone are traces of frescoes, and the later Romanesque cloister next door is a lovely quiet square. It is part of the UNESCO listing for the Longobards in Italy, which came in 2011.
Read the complete The Santa Sofia complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach The Santa Sofia complex. 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.
Read the complete 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with, about halfway. Next is Historic Centre of Naples.
5. Historic Centre of Naples
Naples is not a city you ride through so much as one you survive and then fall in love with. The historic centre, a UNESCO site since 1995, sits on the street plan of Neapolis, the Greek new city founded around the sixth century BC, and the three ancient decumani still run straight through it, the most famous being Spaccanapoli, the street that splits Naples in two. Along them, churches, palaces, shrines, workshops and laundry-hung alleys are packed together with an intensity found nowhere else in Europe.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Naples write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Naples sits at 125 km, about halfway. Next is back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with.
6. back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with comes up about 159 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Santa Sofia complex.
7. back through The Santa Sofia complex
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Santa Sofia complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 211 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Santa Sofia complex. Next is back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum.
8. back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum, late in the day. Next is The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu.
9. The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 249 km.
Leg by leg
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu to The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu → The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum to The Santa Sofia complex
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → The Santa Sofia complex is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Santa Sofia complex to 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
The Santa Sofia complex → 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with to Historic Centre of Naples
18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with → Historic Centre of Naples is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Naples to back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with
Historic Centre of Naples → back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with to back through The Santa Sofia complex
back through 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with → back through The Santa Sofia complex is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Santa Sofia complex to back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
back through The Santa Sofia complex → back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum to The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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