Why this ride
276 km from Tivoli to Tivoli, about 6 h 01 of riding. On the way it passes The Via Appia in Rome, Appia. Regina Viarum, back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum and back through The Via Appia in Rome. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa d'Este and Via Appia. Regina Viarum starting at Tivoli
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 276 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 01
- 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 35 km this is Mille Miglia Historic Route Core, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is The Via Appia in Rome.
2. 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 comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 38 km on.
3. 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
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Via Appia. Regina Viarum.
4. 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, about halfway.
5. 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 sits at 152 km, about halfway. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 37 km on.
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 176 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum, 38 km on.
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 213 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum. Next is back through The Via Appia in Rome.
8. 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
back through The Via Appia in Rome, late in the day. Next is Villa d'Este.
9. 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
The route ends here after 276 km.
Leg by leg
Villa d'Este to The Via Appia in Rome
Villa d'Este → The Via Appia in Rome is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia in Rome to Via Appia. Regina Viarum
The Via Appia in Rome → Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 30 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 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Via Appia. Regina Viarum to back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum
Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum is 37 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 37 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 in Rome
back through Via Appia. Regina Viarum → back through The Via Appia in Rome is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Via Appia in Rome to Villa d'Este
back through The Via Appia in Rome → Villa d'Este is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.