Why this ride
An 85 km round trip from Benevento - roughly 2 h 08 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum, The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu and back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Santa Sofia complex and The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 85 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 08
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
The Santa Sofia complex 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 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu.
3. 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
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu. Next is back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum.
4. 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 Santa Sofia complex.
5. 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
Back at The Santa Sofia complex. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Santa Sofia complex to The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
The Santa Sofia complex → The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum to The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu
The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu to back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum
The Appia Traiana from Beneventum to Aequu → back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum is 27 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 Santa Sofia complex
back through The Via Appia on the route from Beneventum → The Santa Sofia complex is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.