From the Castelli to the Ciociaria

For the splendor of its monuments and importance of its route, the Via Appia is the most famous of the great Roman roads. It was heavily traveled, since it linked the capital with the south, including the Bay of Naples and the beautiful seaside residences that dotted the coast and islands, a haven for wealthy Roman society, emperors included. With the fall of the empire, the great road declined, and by the fourth century A.D., the adjacent Via Asinaria, which began at the Basilica of Maxentius, adjacent to the Roman Forum, and left the city at the present-day Porta San Giovanni, was preferred. Today, the urban sprawl around the Via Asinaria, now known as the Via Appia Nuova, with its unattractive modern buildings, makes it difficult to picture. But less than a century ago, the people who used it, could, even before the road began to snake through the hills, smell the fruity bouquet of cannellino wine and the musky odor of certain caves,¹⁴⁰ where they would drink it, seated on rustic benches with porchetta sandwiches. It is the same wine, fresh, fragile, and light, whose fame has remained unchanged over the centuries.