Why this ride
A 357 km round trip from Sezze - roughly 6 h 12 in the saddle. On the way it passes Appia. Regina Viarum, The Via Appia in Rome, Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar and Tarquinia. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Via Appia. Regina Viarum and Tarquinia
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 357 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 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.
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, 45 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 Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar.
4. Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar
The Etruscans built their houses of wood and mud brick, which is why so few survive, and they built their tombs of rock, which is why we know them best through their dead. The Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri, north-west of Rome, is a city of tombs: great round tumuli covered in grass, cut into the volcanic tufa and laid out along streets, with chambers inside carved to look like houses, with beds, chairs, columns and beams. The necropolis, together with the painted tombs of Tarquinia further north, was listed by UNESCO in 2004, and walking its lanes is one of the most atmospheric experiences in central Italy.
Read the complete Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar, about halfway. Next is Tarquinia.
5. Tarquinia
Tarquinia sits on a hill a few kilometres inland from the Tyrrhenian coast, in the northern tip of Lazio where the land starts to feel more like Tuscany. The town was called Corneto until 1922, when it took back the name of the Etruscan city of Tarchna that once stood on the neighbouring plateau. The old centre is tight, brownish stone, medieval towers, and a few good small piazzas; the main reason people come, though, lies on the Monterozzi ridge just outside, where the Etruscans built their necropolis.
Read the complete Tarquinia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tarquinia sits at 180 km, about halfway. Next is back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar.
6. back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar comes up about 233 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 289 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Via Appia in Rome. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 45 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 357 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 Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar
The Via Appia in Rome → Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar to Tarquinia
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → Tarquinia is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tarquinia to back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar
Tarquinia → back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar to back through The Via Appia in Rome
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → back through The Via Appia in Rome is 56 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.