Why this ride
269 km from Sezze to Sezze, about 5 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Appia. Regina Viarum, The Via Appia in Rome, Villa d'Este and Historic Centre of Rome. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Via Appia. Regina Viarum and Historic Centre of Rome
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 269 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 40
- 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
Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 33 km this is Mille Miglia Historic Route Core, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 33 km
- Named road
- Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Via Appia. Regina Viarum
South of the Alban Hills, the Via Appia drops onto the Pontine plain and runs dead straight for mile after mile, as if the Roman engineers had laid it with a ruler, which in a sense they did. This was the Regina Viarum, the queen of roads, begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to link Rome with Capua, and later extended to Brindisi. Here, near Sezze Scalo and Latina, the road crossed the Pontine Marshes, a malarial swamp that defeated would-be drainers from the Romans to the popes. Travellers sometimes took a canal boat alongside the road instead, and the poet Horace complained about the mosquitoes and the frogs keeping him awake on that very journey.
Read the complete Via Appia. Regina Viarum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Via Appia. Regina Viarum is where the day begins. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 36 km on.
2. Via Appia. Regina Viarum
The Romans called it the queen of roads, and in 2024 UNESCO agreed, listing the Via Appia from Rome to Brindisi as a World Heritage site. Begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, it was the first great Roman road, built to move armies south toward Campania and later extended to the port of Brindisi, the gateway to Greece and the East.
Read the complete Via Appia. Regina Viarum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Via Appia. Regina Viarum comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Via Appia in Rome.
3. 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
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach The Via Appia in Rome. Next is Villa d'Este.
4. Villa d'Este
Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, son of Lucrezia Borgia, had expected to become pope. When that did not happen, he was made governor of Tivoli and consoled himself by turning an old Benedictine convent on the hillside into a villa with a garden that would astonish Europe. Built in the sixteenth century, the Villa d'Este is a hillside of terraces, stairs and fountains, all fed by gravity from the river Aniene: the Hundred Fountains, a long wall of spouting masks and eagles, the Fountain of the Organ, which plays music driven by water, and the Oval Fountain, with its cascade falling into a pool. The villa and its gardens are a World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Villa d'Este write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa d'Este, about halfway. Next is Historic Centre of Rome.
5. Historic Centre of Rome
You cannot ride into the heart of Rome with any dignity, but you can arrive in a way that does the city justice. Come in by the Appian Way, the Via Appia Antica, laid down in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius and later called the queen of roads, and the approach tells you who built this city and what they wanted from it. The old stone surface, with its basalt blocks, still runs for miles south of the walls, between pines, tombs and lonely arches of aqueduct. Closer to the centre the road joins the real city, with the Colosseum, the Forum and the imperial fora lined up like a geology of power, the Pantheon with its famous open oculus, and then Baroque Rome, with Bernini fountains in squares that seem to appear around every corner.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Rome write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Rome sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa d'Este.
6. back through Villa d'Este
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa d'Este write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa d'Este comes up about 166 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Via Appia in Rome.
7. back through 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
about 201 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Via Appia in Rome. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 36 km on.
8. back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Via Appia. Regina Viarum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, late in the day.
9. Via Appia. Regina Viarum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Via Appia. Regina Viarum 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 269 km.
Leg by leg
Via Appia. Regina Viarum to Via Appia. Regina Viarum
Via Appia. Regina Viarum → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Via Appia. Regina Viarum to The Via Appia in Rome
Via Appia. Regina Viarum → The Via Appia in Rome is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia in Rome to Villa d'Este
The Via Appia in Rome → Villa d'Este is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa d'Este to Historic Centre of Rome
Villa d'Este → Historic Centre of Rome is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Rome to back through Villa d'Este
Historic Centre of Rome → back through Villa d'Este is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa d'Este to back through The Via Appia in Rome
back through Villa d'Este → back through The Via Appia in Rome is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia in Rome to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum
back through The Via Appia in Rome → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum to Via Appia. Regina Viarum
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.