Why this ride
A 128 km round trip from Rome - roughly 2 h 30 in the saddle. The stops in between: The Via Appia across Alban Hills, Villa Adriana and back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Via Appia in Rome and Villa Adriana
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 128 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- 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 in Rome
Rome's regina viarum, the queen of roads, leaves the city through the Porta San Sebastiano and heads south-east toward Capua and eventually Brindisi. It was begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, and the first miles out of Rome are now protected within the Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica. The stretch of the old road is lined with tombs, ruins of villas, catacombs and umbrella pines, and the original paving stones, huge polygonal basalt blocks, still surface parts of it.
Read the complete The Via Appia in Rome write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia in Rome is where the day begins. Next is The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
2. The Via Appia across Alban Hills
The Romans built the Appian Way straight as a ruler across the Campagna, but when it reached the Alban Hills, the old volcanic massif south-east of Rome, even they had to bend a little. At Ariccia, the road crossed a deep valley on a huge viaduct of stone blocks, parts of which still survive, and climbed past Albano and Genzano toward Velletri and the south.
Read the complete The Via Appia across Alban Hills write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia across Alban Hills comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Adriana.
3. Villa Adriana
Hadrian never did anything by halves. Below the hill town of Tivoli, on the plain east of Rome, the emperor built himself a retreat that was less a villa than a private city: palaces, baths, libraries, theatres, gardens and long reflecting pools spread over more than a hundred hectares. Villa Adriana was constructed in the early second century AD, and Hadrian, a restless traveller and amateur architect, filled it with references to places he had seen, most famously the Canopus, a long pool lined with columns and statues meant to evoke the Egyptian canal of that name. Walking through the ruins today, among cypresses and olive trees, you get a sense of a man trying to bring the whole empire home.
Read the complete Villa Adriana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Adriana. Next is back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
4. back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Via Appia across Alban Hills 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 across Alban Hills, late in the day. Next is The Via Appia in Rome.
5. The Via Appia in Rome
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Via Appia in Rome write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Via Appia in Rome. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Via Appia in Rome to The Via Appia across Alban Hills
The Via Appia in Rome → The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia across Alban Hills to Villa Adriana
The Via Appia across Alban Hills → Villa Adriana is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Adriana to back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills
Villa Adriana → back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills to The Via Appia in Rome
back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills → The Via Appia in Rome is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.