Why this ride
From Formia it runs 241 km to Formia; allow about 4 h 31 of riding. It goes by way of Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing, The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S, Ancient Capua and Historic Centre of Naples.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae and Historic Centre of Naples
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 241 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 31
- 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 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 Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing.
2. 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.
Read the complete Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S.
3. 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
about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S. Next is Ancient Capua.
4. 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
Ancient Capua, 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 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancient Capua.
6. 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
back through Ancient Capua comes up about 155 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S.
7. 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
about 205 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S. Next is back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing.
8. back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing, 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 241 km.
Leg by leg
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae to Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing
The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae → Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing to The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S
Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing → The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S is 16 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 back through Ancient Capua
Historic Centre of Naples → back through Ancient Capua is 35 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 back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing
back through The Via Appia from Sinuessa to the Pagus S → back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing to The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae
back through Minturnae and the Garigliano crossing → The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.