Why this ride
A 239 km round trip from Sezze - roughly 5 h 12 in the saddle. On the way it passes Appia. Regina Viarum, The Via Appia in Rome, The Via Appia across Alban Hills and San Paolo Fuori le Mura.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Via Appia. Regina Viarum and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 239 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 12
- 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, 32 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 The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is San Paolo Fuori le Mura.
5. San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The name tells the story: Saint Paul outside the walls. According to tradition, Paul was beheaded on the road to Ostia, and a Christian woman buried him in her family's cemetery beside the Via Ostiense, about two kilometres from the old city wall. Constantine built a small church over the grave in the early fourth century, and by the end of that century three emperors had replaced it with a vast basilica, the largest in Rome until the new Saint Peter's. In 1823 a fire destroyed most of the building, and it was rebuilt in the nineteenth century as a faithful copy of the old one, with a forest of eighty granite columns along the nave.
Read the complete San Paolo Fuori le Mura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
San Paolo Fuori le Mura sits at 128 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
6. 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 comes up about 150 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 171 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Via Appia in Rome. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 32 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 239 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 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 San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The Via Appia across Alban Hills → San Paolo Fuori le Mura is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Paolo Fuori le Mura to back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills
San Paolo Fuori le Mura → back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills to back through The Via Appia in Rome
back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills → back through The Via Appia in Rome is 21 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 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.