On July 31, UNESCO proclaimed the Via Appia, or Appian Way, Italy’s 60th World Heritage Site. Running about 500 miles from Rome south to Brin disi and lined with cy-presses and umbrella pines, the Via Ap-pia was begun in 312 BC by its namesake, the blind Censor Apppius Claudius Caecus, for military reasons.
Nicknamed regina viarum or “queen of the roads”, it’s the oldest of Rome’s consular roads and widely considered the world’s first highway. The ancient Romans, first the pagans and later the Chris-tians, didn’t bury their dead within the city limits, but instead along extra-urban roads.
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