The Via Valeria was an ancient
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, the continuation north-eastwards of the
Via Tiburtina
Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east-northeast from Rome to Tivoli (Latin, Tibur) and then, with the via Valeria, on to Pescara (Latin, Aternum).
Historical road
It was probably built by the Roman censor Marcus Valerius Maxi ...
from
Tibur
Tivoli ( , ; la, Tibur) is a town and in Lazio, central Italy, north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna.
History
Gaius Julius Solin ...
. It probably owed its origin to Marcus Valerius Messalla,
censor in 154 BC.
The route
It ran first up the
Anio valley past
Varia, and then leaving the Anio at the 36th mile, where the
Via Sublacensis
The ''Via Sublacensis'' was a Roman road constructed to connect Nero's palace (the ''Villa Sublacensis'') in present-day Subiaco to Rome, splitting off from the Via Valeria near Varia (modern Vicovaro), about 10 km northeast of Tivoli.
It ...
joined it, ascended to
Carsoli and to the lofty pass of
Monte Bove, whence it descended again to the valley occupied by the
Lake Fucino in Roman times. It is doubtful whether, before
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
, the Via Valeria ran farther than
Cerfennia, the eastern point of the territory of the
Marsi
The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. D ...
, to the northeast of Lake Fucino.
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
states that in his day it went as far as
Corfinium, and this important place must have been accessible from Rome, but probably beyond Cerfennia only by a track.
[ Ashby cites E. Albertini in ''Mélanges de l’École française de Rome'' (1907), 463 sqq.]
At the Roman ''statio ad Lamnas'' (at
Cineto Romano
Cineto Romano is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about northeast of Rome. It was named Scarpe until 1882.
It was a fief of the Orsini in the 11th century, then of the Borghese ...
) it split into two routes, the ''Valeria vetus'' and ''Valeria nova'', which reunited near
Riofreddo
Riofreddo is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about northeast of Rome. The name is derived from the Latin "''Rivus frigidus''," meaning "cold river" or "cold stream."
It was an ...
. The ''vetus'' was older as it was a military road that later became a more difficult shortcut when the ''nova'' became the longer but easier main road.
[C. C. van Essen, The Via Valeria from Tivoli to Collarmele, Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 25 (1957), pp. 22-38 (22 pages), http://www.jstor.org/stable/40310566]
On the prolongation beyond Cerfennia, a milestone (''Corp. Inscr. Lat.'' IX. 5973) states that in 48-49 AD
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
made the ''Via Claudia Valeria'' from Cerfennia to the mouth of the Aternus (the site of modern
Pescara). This difficult part of the road to the valley of the
Aternus involved a drop of nearly 300 m and the crossing of the main ridge of the
Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
by the modern
Forca Caruso. From Popoli the road followed the valley of the Aternus to its mouth, and there joined the coast-road at Pescara. The modern railway from Rome to Castellammare Adriatico follows closely the line of the Via Valeria.
He also constructed a road, the
Via Claudia Nova connecting the
Via Salaria to the Via Valeria near the modern
Popoli
Popoli is a '' comune'' and town in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
History
Though the site has not revealed significant Roman presence it appears in a ninth-century document as ''borgo di Pagus Fabianus''. Its name in m ...
. This road was continued south to
Isernia.
Since 2000 the Ponte Scutonico, the most important and well-preserved monument of the Via Valeria in the Aniene valley which had been buried after floods and landslides, has been excavated with the enhancement of the stretch of road belonging to it leading to a considerable advance in knowledge. It was probably built under
Nerva
Nerva (; originally Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dy ...
(r. 96-8) along with enhancement of the road.
Other roads
A second Via Valeria, the Via Valeria of Sicily, connected
Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...
and
Siracusa. Hardly widened or improved until the nineteenth century, it remained the backbone of the Ionian drainage basin of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, favouring the development of cities along it: Messina, Taormina, Giardini-Naxos, Giarre, Acireale, Catania, Augusta, Siracusa. Today, Route 114 follows it in part.
Roman bridges
There are the remains of at least two
Roman bridge
The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ...
s along the road, which are the Ponte San Giorgio and the
Ponte Scutonico.
See also
*
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
*
Roman bridge
The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ...
*
Roman engineering
The ancient Romans were famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology inconceivable in Greece. The architecture ...
References
{{List of Roman roads
Valeria, Via
150s BC establishments
2nd-century BC establishments in Italy
2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic