THE VIA APPIA ANTICA

queen of the Roman highways

(Regina Viarum)

and a taste of ancient Rome

written by Sergio Caggìa with Paul Gwynne for © Nerone the Insider's Guide to Rome

 

The Via Appia Antica was built by the Roman Censor Appius Claudius Cieco in 312 B.C., from whom it takes its name, enlarging a track that joined Rome with the Alban Hills. It runs for about 530 kilometres before arriving at Brindisi on the Adriatic coast in Puglia. The Roman legions were normally able to walk this distance in about 17-18 days, covering about 30 kilometres each day before boarding the ships bound for the eastern provinces. The Roman legions, however, were not the only ones to use the ancient highway. It was used also by merchants and tourists (and later pilgrims) who generated a busy traffic. The Romans used to bury their dead outside the city walls. Unlike the modern practice of chosing a quiet place for our eternal rest, the Romans liked to be buried alongside a busy road like the Via Appia so as to be remembered by the passers-by. There were many types of tombs along the Via Appia Antica, determined by the social status of the deceased: the rich built grand sepulchres (for example the famous tomb complex of the Scipio family); the middle-classes, instead, bought a niche for the urn of their ashes in one of the many colombaria or public cemeteries (so-called because of its resemblance to a dovecote); whereas slaves were buried in the fields reserved for this function. Some slaves' cemeteries along the Via Appia became, from the third century onwards, a burial-place for Christians, the catacombs that we can visit today. The first Christians used to assemble near the burial places of Saints Peter and Paul at the Necropoli Vaticana and the Via Ostiense. When the persecutions of the second half of the third century threatened complete extermination the Christians looked for more secret meeting places to avoid the risk of being arrested and killed. They decided upon the Via Appia Antica in a place between the second and the third miles, where an ancient cave had been used as place of burial since the time of the emperor Vespasian. One reason for the choice was the busy traffic along the Via Appia as it was easy to mingle with the crowd and for the Christian community to pose as a Roman burial club which held banquets on the anniversary of the dead dead's death. Indeed it seems as if a complex of three subterranean pagan tombs, built in a slope off the Via Appia Antica (nowadays in the catacombs of the church of Saint Sebastian), was used for this very purpose. We could consider the first few miles of the Via Appia Antica a real cemetery. Unfortunately down the centuries most of the marbles (and many of the inscriptions) have been taken away from the tombs. Only rarely is it possible today to discover to whom the tomb belonged. Not much remains of the splendour of the ancient sepulchres. There is one exception: the tomb of Cecilia Metella (on the left, after the Circus of Maxentius). It owes its survival to its reusein the Middle Ages as a tower for the castle built there (remains of which can still be seen). Another sepulchre is maintained with care by its proprietors Mr and Mrs Passarelli. They have set up a cultural association called 'The Bucranio' ('the Ox Skull'- so-called from the name of the surronding area kown as the 'Capo di Bove' after the marble relief depicting the skull of ox on the tomb of Cecilia Metella). The Passarelli's cultural association is something very special and probably unique... According to tradition sometime between the first century B.C. and the fourth century A.D. there lived in Rome an excellent cook named Apicius. He has left to posterity a collection of his recipes, which Mr. and Mrs. Passarelli have spent ten years researching in order to re-create ancient Roman cusine. This has required a great amount of patience and experimentation as Apicius's recipes list only the ingredients, but not the quantity of them, nor the cooking time, nor the oven's temperature! In fact, the Passarelli even built a Roman oven to get the recipes just so and began to grow in their garden some of the rare but necessary herbs and spices. Other ingredients need to be made especially, like a particular ricotta cheese which is impossible to find in the shops. As result of their research it is possible today to sample an authentic Roman meal, washed down with wines flavoured with honey and rose petals and served in sauces like the infamous garum. All made according to ancient Roman culinary traditions. The banquet takes place in front of a second-century tomb in a beautiful garden on the Via Appia Antica. Here you will also find a gazebo hung with reproductions of prints from the 18th and the 19th centuries, giving you an idea of the appearance of the Via Appia Antica at that time, i.e., before and during the restoration project directed by the architect Luigi Canina in 1850's under the auspices of Pope Pius IX (together with the restoration of the catacombs of Saint Sebastian). While the spirits of the dead have long since departed the tomb provides the perfect backdrop for a banquet. Sweet-smelling woods and incense burning on huge braziers perfume the air, while an incessant chorus of frogs and ducks add to the pastoral ambience- a real leap back in history over two thousand years. I think the Passarelli have accomplished something quite unique and very special. Driven by their love for the site and their passion for culinary archaeology they offer a welcome hospitality which is definitely worth trying. To organise a lunch with the Bucranio association you can call Mr. Passarelli at 785.71.51 (please speak Italian with him). You need a group of at least 25 people and to reserve the place at least ten days in advance. The pribe for the meal is only 20.000 lire per person and the address is Via Appia Antica 187/a. You can easily get there with the 660 bus from Colli Albani station on metro line A. I hope you will enjoy the food and the visit. Here's to culinary archaeology!! * Just one more tip: at the EPT tourist information office at Via Parigi 5 (near Piazza Repubblica - also metro station on line A), you will find a good brochure for free not only on the Via Appia Antica, but also on the excavations of Ostia Antica.