The Alta Semita ("High Path") was a street in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

that gave its name to one of the

14 regions of Augustan Rome In 7 BC, Augustus divided the city of ancient Rome, Rome into 14 administrative regions (Latin , ). These replaced the four —or "quarters"—traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome. They were further divided into offi ...

. The Alta Semita brought traffic into Rome from the salt route ''(

Via Salaria The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy. It eventually ran from Rome (from Porta Salaria of the Aurelian Walls) to ''Castrum Truentinum'' ( Porto d'Ascoli) on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 km. The road also passed throu ...

)'' that had existed since prehistoric times. The great antiquity of the street is also suggested by ''semita'', a Latin word usually meaning "footpath" and not used for any other Roman street. It ran most likely along the modern Via del Quirinale and Via Venti Settembre, on the spine of the

Quirinal Hill The Quirinal Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has c ...

, creating a straight route southwest from the

Porta Collina The Colline Gate (Latin ''Porta Collina'') was a landmark in ancient Rome, supposed to have been built by Servius Tullius, semi-legendary king of Rome 578–535 BC. The gate stood at the north end of the Servian Wall, and past it were two im ...

in the

Servian Wall The Servian Wall (; ) is an ancient Roman defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. The wall was built of volcanic tuff and was up to in height in places, wide at its base, long, and is believed to hav ...

to a major temple from the

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

ic era on the Collis Salutaris. It probably connected to the Vicus Iugarius. It may also be that the street called ''Alta Semita'' in the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

was not the same as the one known in the later

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. The regional catalogues name Regio VI as ''Alta Semita'', after the street.Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary,'' p. 5. The temple of the Flavian family (''Templum Gentis Flaviae'') was located ''in Alta Semita'', according to the regional catalogue.

References

Ancient Roman roads in Rome {{ancientRome-stub