On July 31 UNESCO proclaimed the Via Appia or Appian Way Italy’s 60th World Heritage Site.
Running about 300 miles south to Brindisi, originally paved with large lozenge-shaped basalt cobblestones, and lined with cypresses and umbrella pines, Via Appia was begun in 312 BC by its namesake, the blind Censor Appius Claudius Caecus, at first for military reasons—to allow Rome to conquer the southern half of the “boot”, and later essential for trade even across the Adriatic Sea. Nicknamed regina viarum or “queen of the roads”, it’s the oldest of Rome’s consular roads and considered by many the world’s first highway.
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