Italy’s Ancient Roman Appian Way included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List

ROME – Italy’s ancient Roman Appian Way was admitted to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Saturday, becoming the country’s 60th entry on the list.

More than 800 kilometers (500 miles) long, the Appian Way, known as the “Queen of Roads”, is the oldest and most important of the great roads built by the Ancient Romans from 312 BC onwards.

The Appian Way marked a revolution in road construction, quickly becoming the most important road connecting Rome with the southern part of the peninsula.

This strategic corridor guaranteed access in all weather conditions and allowed the Roman legions to make quick and undisputed conquests.

The application for its inclusion in the UNESCO heritage list, prepared by the Italian Ministry of Culture, was declared successful during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, which took place in New Delhi.

“It was originally conceived as a strategic road for military conquest, advancing towards the East and Asia Minor,” UNESCO said. “The Via Appia later allowed the growth of the cities it connected and the emergence of new settlements, facilitating agricultural production and trade.”

The road, made up of 22 parts, is a set of engineering works, illustrating “the advanced technical competence of Roman engineers in the construction of roads, civil engineering projects, infrastructures and extensive land recovery works, as well as a vast set of monumental structures,” UNESCO added.

Nowadays, the ancient Appian Way is not only a large open-air museum started in 1800, but also an immense green area, a place where Romans and tourists go for leisure time, bicycle rides, walks and visits to monuments. The entire area is a protected archaeological park.