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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Villa Adriana and The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
330 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 59
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.

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Why this ride

A 330 km round trip from Villa Adriana - roughly 6 h 59 in the saddle. On the way it passes The Via Appia across Alban Hills, Appia. Regina Viarum, The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae and back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum. The line favours views over speed.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. 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

    Villa Adriana is where the day begins. Next is The Via Appia across Alban Hills.

  2. 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 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 41 km on.

  3. 3. 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

    about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Via Appia. Regina Viarum. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 42 km on.

  4. 4. Via Appia. Regina Viarum

    Terracina is the point where the Via Appia, the queen of roads, meets the sea after its long straight run from Rome across the Pontine plain. The Romans built the road in 312 BC under the censor Appius Claudius, and for its time it was a marvel: paved, drained and as straight as engineering allowed, linking Rome to Capua and later to Brindisi. The stretch through the Pontine marshes was notorious for mosquitoes and malaria, and travellers often took a canal boat alongside the road instead, as the poet Horace describes in one of his satires.

    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, about halfway. Next is The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae.

  5. 5. 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 sits at 167 km, about halfway. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 41 km on.

  6. 6. 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 comes up about 205 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 42 km on.

  7. 7. 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

    about 248 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum. Next is back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills.

  8. 8. 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 Villa Adriana.

  9. 9. Villa Adriana

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    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

    The route ends here after 330 km.

Leg by leg

Villa Adriana to The Via Appia across Alban Hills

Villa Adriana → The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

The Via Appia across Alban Hills to Via Appia. Regina Viarum

The Via Appia across Alban Hills → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Via Appia. Regina Viarum to Via Appia. Regina Viarum

Via Appia. Regina Viarum → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Via Appia. Regina Viarum to The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae

Via Appia. Regina Viarum → The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum

The Via Appia from 83rd mile to Formiae → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum

back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum to back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills

back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills to Villa Adriana

back through The Via Appia across Alban Hills → Villa Adriana is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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