Via Appia Antica and its Regional Park historical timeline

The most important road of ancient Rome, lined with the tombs of people who wanted to be seen, enclosed by aristocratic estates after the Renaissance, protected by regional law in 1988 and recognised by UNESCO in 2024.

Chronology

1. Antiquity — the Appia becomes the most important and famous road of ancient Rome, and is defined already by the ancients as the Queen of roads.
2. Antiquity — monumental tombs are set along the road outside the city, concentrated in the stretch beyond the Circus of Maxentius and the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella.
3. Antiquity — aqueducts carry water to Rome from the nearby hills across the country between the later via Appia Nuova and via Tuscolana; their great arcades still stand.
4. Antiquity — the Villa dei Quintili, an imposing complex, is built between what are now the Appia Antica and the Appia Nuova.
5. Early Christian period — some of the most important Christian catacombs are cut beside the first stretch of the road, among them San Callisto and San Sebastiano.
6. Post-Renaissance — the stretch from the Aurelian Walls at Porta San Sebastiano to the Belvedere di Cecilia Metella is closed on both sides by the boundary walls of great aristocratic estates.
7. 1748 — that enclosed stretch is the road among the vineyards described in the Nolli plan.
8. 10 November 1988 — Regional Law no. 66 establishes the suburban regional park of the Appia Antica, to safeguard and give value to the historical and naturalistic heritage of the area.
9. 27 July 2024 — "Via Appia. Regina Viarum" is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

• Official website
• Wikipedia