Caracalla
The huge walls of the Caracalla
Baths reach up to 30 metres in height and seem to belong
to geology as much as architecture. Opened in AD 216,
they provided a dramatic beginning to the Via Appia
as it left the south of Rome.
Horti Scipionum
On the first stretch of the narrow Via Appia near the
Porta Sebastiano the traffic hurtles past at high speed
and there is less pedestrian space than on the New Jersey
Turnpike. Behind this wall lies the tomb of the important
Scipiones family and next door a small garden offers
an escape for the modern gladiators of the road..
Via Appia, Rome
The most interesting section of the Via Appia Antica,
now designated an “archaeological promenade”
takes the walker over a long stretch of original surface,
surrounded by tombs and framed by umbrella pines. Since
becoming a park in the late 1990s, the area has been
tidied up and lost some of its sinister reputation as
a centre for unsavoury nocturnal activities.
Temple of Jove
As it passed through Terracina, the Via Appia
passed the Temple of Jove, or Giove Anxur, built in
the first century BC. All that remains of the main temple
now is the long arcaded foundations that once supported
the 190-foot (60-metre) long building.
