European route E 78 is a road. It begins in

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

and ends in

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

. It links the Tyrrhenean and Adriatic coasts. The road follows:

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. T ...

/Selci Lama -

. It intersects with the E80 at Grosseto, with the E35 at

Bettolle Bettolle is a ''frazione'' of Sinalunga, in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Of ancient origin, it was settled by the Etruscans, as attested by the numerous archaeological findings. In the Middle Ages it was a possession of the abbots of F ...

, with the E45 at Città di Castello/ Selci Lama and terminates at the E55 at Fano. At present, not a single part of the E78 is constructed at motorway standard. Even though sections are dual carriageway, the Apennine section is not at the standard laid down for E-roads in the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries (which applies to E-routes). Plans to upgrade the entire route have existed since the late 1960s. This project is significant, because the completed E78 would be the only fully grade-separated and fully dual carriageway route between the Tyrrhenean and Adriatic coasts in an area that runs from

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

. There are plans to create other similar links in the area. The first phase of the project consists of an upgrade of the existing Grosseto - Siena road, continuing to the A1 at

. As of 2021, 49 of the 63,5 km had been completed, and work on another 2,8 km was in progress, whereas the remaining 11,8 km were being verified for implementation. The duplex with the A1 stops near

. From there, the E78 is intended to run directly east to Fano. Plans to shortcut the A1 duplex by creating a direct link from

Rigomagno Rigomagno is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Sinalunga, Province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 144.Apennine crossing will run via the

Galleria della Guinza tunnel Galleria may refer to Shopping centres named ''Galleria'' Australia *Galleria Shopping Centre (Perth), Morley, Western Australia * Galleria Shopping Centre (Melbourne), Melbourne, Victoria Canada * Allen Lambert Galleria, Toronto, Ontario *G ...

between Mercatello sul Metauro and Lama di

San Giustino San Giustino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region Umbria, located about northwest of Perugia on the Tiber River. History In ancient Roman times it was a town named ''Meliscianum''. Nearby at Colle ...

. While a first tube of this tunnel was constructed between 1990 and 2004, construction of the second tube was interrupted as a result of a lack of funds. The first tube is currently unused, because it lacks connecting roads on its western end; only grading northeast of Cantone gives any indication that the tunnel has a western end. As at May 2010, studies as to the construction of this link are still pending. In 2016 there is an agreement for the total construction of the E78. It will cost 680 millions € for the Tuscan part and 520 millions € for the Umbrian part.

References

External links

UN Economic Commission for Europe: Overall Map of E-road Network (2007)
{{E-road 78 E078