Why this ride
361 km from Formia to Formia, about 6 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S, Ancient Capua, Historic Centre of Naples and Costiera Amalfitana. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae and Costiera Amalfitana
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 361 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 29
- 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
Amalfi Coast Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 61 km this is Amalfi Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 61 km
- Named road
- Amalfi Coast Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae
The queen of roads, the Romans called it: the Via Appia, begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, ran from Rome to Capua and later on to Brindisi, the gateway to Greece and the East. Near Formia, the old road comes down from the hills of Itri to the coast of the Gulf of Gaeta, and a stretch of it, with its paving stones and roadside monuments, survives in the countryside. In 2024, UNESCO listed the Via Appia as a whole, and this section between the eighty-third mile from Rome and the ancient town of Formiae is one of its pieces.
Read the complete The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae is where the day begins. Next is The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S.
2. The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S
The Via Appia, the Queen of Roads, ran from Rome to Brindisi, and in 2024 UNESCO inscribed long stretches of it as a single World Heritage site. Near Mondragone, on the coast of northern Campania, the road passes the site of Sinuessa, a Roman colony that once guarded the route where it reached the sea after crossing the coastal plains from the north. Not a great deal stands above ground today, so this is a place where you read the landscape rather than tour the ruins.
Read the complete The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancient Capua.
3. Ancient Capua
Santa Maria Capua Vetere does not look like much as you ride in, a busy Campanian town of tangled traffic and apartment blocks, but under and around it lies ancient Capua, once one of the richest cities in Italy. The Via Appia passed straight through, and its great amphitheatre, second in size only to the Colosseum, still dominates the edge of town. This was where the gladiator schools trained their fighters, and it was from a school in Capua that Spartacus broke out in 73 BC with a band of fellow slaves, beginning the revolt that shook Rome for two years. The amphitheatre and a small gladiator museum nearby are the obvious stops, and the Mithraeum under the town, with its painted scene of the god slaying a bull, is one of the best preserved in Italy.
Read the complete Ancient Capua write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Ancient Capua. Next is Historic Centre of Naples.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Costiera Amalfitana.
5. Costiera Amalfitana
The Amalfi coast road is the reason many riders first dreamed of Italy, and it lives up to the legend and then some, with a few catches. The SS163 Amalfitana, carved into the cliffs above the sea in the nineteenth century, winds along the southern side of the Sorrento peninsula from Positano to Vietri sul Mare, with hundreds of bends, sheer drops, tunnels, bridges and villages clinging to the rocks. Amalfi itself, a small town of about five thousand people at the mouth of a ravine, was once a powerful maritime republic that rivalled Venice and Genoa in the Middle Ages, and its cathedral, with its striped facade and Arab-Norman cloister, is a reminder of that glory.
Read the complete Costiera Amalfitana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Costiera Amalfitana sits at 166 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Centre of Naples.
6. back through Historic Centre of Naples
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Historic Centre of Naples comes up about 242 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ancient Capua.
7. back through Ancient Capua
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient Capua write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 278 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ancient Capua. Next is back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S.
8. back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S 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 from Sinuessa to the Pagus S, late in the day. Next is The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae.
9. The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae 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 361 km.
Leg by leg
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae to The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae → The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S to Ancient Capua
The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S → Ancient Capua is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Capua to Historic Centre of Naples
Ancient Capua → Historic Centre of Naples is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Naples to Costiera Amalfitana
Historic Centre of Naples → Costiera Amalfitana is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Costiera Amalfitana to back through Historic Centre of Naples
Costiera Amalfitana → back through Historic Centre of Naples is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Naples to back through Ancient Capua
back through Historic Centre of Naples → back through Ancient Capua is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient Capua to back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S
back through Ancient Capua → back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S to The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae
back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S → The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.