Roman Roads of Italy
If you think this would make a cool poster, you can get a high-res, print-worthy PDF for $9!
Versione italiana — Italian version
It’s taken me almost a year to get around to doing this, but as promised, here is the transit-style map of the ancient Roman roads of Italy!
The same caveats apply to this map as the previous ones. It was fortunate enough that Italy’s Roman roads are quite well-studied and documented, especially when it comes to their actual ancient names. This meant that I had to do less artistic interpretation in order to make this look like a sensible, modern chart. That said, there are still some cases where I had to creatively reconstruct certain roads, and I make it clear in the legend which roads those were.
Some people might be confused about why Sicily and Sardinia are beiged out. This is a map of Italia (Italy) as the Romans saw it, which did not include those islands. On the other hand, it did include parts of what are today Slovenia and Croatia.
Not sure what else to write about this right now, but I will update this description as time goes on.
I am working on the Italian language version, it will be out soon!
Grateful to @cheremone for checking my Italian translation and offering many helpful changes!
Fixes made as of 28 May 2018:
- Thermae is now Termini Imerese, not Sciacca.
- Nuceria is now Nocera Umbra, not Nocera Inferiore.
- Libarna still called Libarna, not Liguria.
- The road from Florentia to Bononia was called the Via Flaminia Militaris and started at Arretium. There was also the Via Flaminia Minor which ran parallel but through a different mountain pass, but it does not appear in all sources and may have been disused by the time of the Empire, so I am not including it.
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25 Comments on "Roman Roads of Italy"
Beautiful, it’s a great work! But you have confused Via Caecilia with Via Calabriana: Via Caecilia was from Amiternum to Hatria for sure, and probably it arrived to Castrum Novum from Hatria instead of Via Hadriatica (because Hatria was not on the beach, but its harbour, far 10 km from the centre of Hatria, was on the beach). And I think you have confused other roads called by the ‘C’, also Via Corfiniensis with Via Cornelia.
I’ve fixed it! Thanks for the catch! When I added Via Flaminia Militaris, I had forgotten to update part of the legend.
Hi Sasha, may I ask you where you found the term “Salurnis”? I found it for the first time in 575 AD, after the roman empire crashed.
Thanks!
You are correct, it is not an Ancient Roman name. I think I will leave it on the map.
ok, thanks. At least, 575 AD was the fist mention, but the origin of the town is older. Thanks for the nice map!
So beutiful! Do yo think about make Iberian version?
Absolutely! Will come in the next few months.
You done a great job. Your blog have enough ancient roads. Also your blog contains information about those roads. Wide information about route will help users more. Keep sharing information like this.
This is brilliant – many thanks! Just one question – why does it not have at least the start of the Via Domitia, one of the busiest roads in the empire? I understand you haven’t gone far into France, but the road does head that way…
Thank you! As for Via Domitia, I believe it began at Brigantio (Briançon), which is just barely outside the map!
Well, perhaps an arrow pointing in that direction (as you have for Gap, for example)?
The Annia road reaches up to Aquileia, I’m sure of this, because I’m living in Aquileia!
You’re right! Unfortunately I had to simplify things a little bit. I might remake this map in the manner of my upcoming Iberia map, in which case it will show the road as it is.
Congratulations for the beautiful work!
I’d like to report that currently “Aternum” is called “Pescara”.
Best,
Francesco
Good catch! I will fix that in the next update coming soon.
“Salurnis” does not exist. It does not appear in the Peuntigerian tabula and in the Itinerarium Antonini. Endidae ( Egna in Italian, Neumarkt in German), appears in that tract.
Yes, this has already been discussed — will update in upcoming re-release.
Hi, the Roman “Aufidena” is actually Castel di Sangro, not Alfedena (Lewis, Charlton T. “Aufĭdēna”. A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 9 March 2012).
Alfedena is the ancient place of Aufidena, in the Samnitic Era. First of the Roman route.
Thank you — that makes sense. I will fix this in the new release.
avrei usato il termine latino antiquae viae, e non anticae, mi piace molto meno e forse è proprio sbagliato !
Just a greeting from an Italian who lives next to the Via Flaminia
Cheers!
Good job! Thank you for your contribution, but let me add this: the Valeria Sicula (VS) is leading till Lylibaeum; so, you should put the purple sign for a step more.
Does anyone know the dimensions and resolutions of the .pdf files?
Very nice, but calling the road passing Vercellae already the Via Francigena seems an anachronism: that road could get that name only after the Franks conquered Gallia, thus after the fall of the Empire. I couldn’t find the actual name, but according to Wikipedia it is still a branch of the Aemilia Extenta.