The Rome Index
The Appian Way
Ancient Rome's most famous road — catacombs, tombs and countryside just outside the city.
What it was
Built in 312 BC, the Appian Way was Rome's first great road, stretching over 560 kilometres to the heel of Italy. The section outside Rome's city walls is still largely paved with the original basalt stones.
The catacombs
Several early Christian and Jewish catacombs line the road, with guided tours running through underground burial passages. The Catacombs of San Callisto and San Sebastiano are the most visited and easiest to book.
Getting there
Bus or hire a bike — cycling the Appian Way on a Sunday, when sections are closed to cars, is one of Rome's most rewarding half-day outings. Rent bikes near the start of the road at the park visitor center.
The paving stones underfoot
Sections of the original basalt paving (the same volcanic stone the road was surfaced with over two thousand years ago) are still walkable today — an unusually direct physical connection to Roman infrastructure, since most ancient roads elsewhere have long since been buried, replaced or paved over entirely.
Tomb-lined stretches
Roman law prohibited burial within the city walls, which is why the Appian Way outside the centre became lined with elaborate family tombs and mausolea for centuries — some still visible today in fragmentary form, effectively an open-air necropolis running alongside the road for kilometres.
