The Via Appia Antica goes from Porta Capanea, near the Circus Maximus, in Rome, up to toast. Its construction represented for antiquity a work of extraordinary importance both from an engineering point of view and for the numerous historical implications that occurred during its construction.
The initial project, commissioned by the Consul Appius Claudius in 312 BC, provided for its interruption in the city of Capua (now Santa Maria Capua Vetere) and was only subsequently lengthened during the Roman expansion in the South, until it reached Brindisi, in 191 BC. With the annexation of the latter city, the road officially became the main commercial artery of the South, indispensable not only for land trade but also for overseas trade.
Appio Claudio's project involved the construction of a rapid route connecting the "Caput Mundi", Rome, with Capua, then the third largest city in Italy in terms of importance and size, second only to Rome and Taranto. Before this project, the only way to reach the city was to use a winding and adverse route, not designed for a quick connection and therefore formed by the intersection of several independent streets. The work, as mentioned, represented an epochal challenge for the time, since, in order to achieve the purpose of a safe and easy-to-cross connection, natural obstacles on the path, such as hills, mountains or rivers, were not taken into account. The idea therefore envisaged the creation of a single route that pointed straight to Capua, ignoring other nearby cities, which could then be reached via secondary roads as is the case, to make a parallel, with our modern highways.