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Bicycling the via Appia from Rome to Brindisi

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A bike ride through Italian history and the Italy most tourists will never know

This is all about seeing a part of Italy that few tourists ever get to see, in a way most travelers have never tried.

Via Appia, or the Appian Way in English, was the main highway of ancient Rome, cutting diagonally over half the length of Italy, over the Apennine mountains, to the port in Brindisi. Countless ruins, villas, fortresses and monuments run along this road, and almost every famous name in Roman history is somehow connected with the story of the Appian Way.

But you can't understand via Appia from a tour bus, so in 2005 I traveled the length of it by bicycle. In the spring of 2010 I'm going again, and I'm looking for companions.

This lens will cover my preparation for this trip, as well as information about the route for anyone who wants to come along or try it by themselves.

On a bike you don't just cross the land. You caress it. You feel every grade, every bump, and every breeze. You're exposed to every wildflower, and you get to meet the local people. My blog covers bike travel, which you can view at http://www.bicyclefreedom.com.

I hope you'll try it.

Any royalties generated from this lens will subsidize my bike tour, and if there's any surplus it will go to the Adventure Cycling Association or pay for other riders to come along.

Contents at a Glance

Ride with me in Southern Italy--and get...
Follow the Appian way without leaving yo...
New book on biking via Appia
Follow an ancient journey along the Appi...
Bicycle Freedom
The Ride to Port Hueneme

A very rough itinerary for bike touring in Southern Italy

A lot of people ask me the same question, more or less: Which route do you recommend. Here's a very general sketch of a good 14-day bike tour.

Day 1--Rome to Ariccia. More siteseeing than riding. Start with the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, then leave Rome and follow the original Appian way for the first 10 miles. Visit the museum in the Aurelian Wall, the hippodrome, the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and other sites along the first 10 miles of the via Appia. If you do this on a Sunday, via Appia will be closed to most motor traffic, making your ride a lot safer and more fun.

Day 2--Ariccia to Terracina. If you're not a purist, you can deviate from the via Appia and ride your bike on the Via Latina, spending most of your time riding through the national park of Circeo. This was where Ulysses and his crew supposedly met the witch Circe, who turned them into pigs, so don't eat too much prosciuto.

Day 3--Terracina to Minturno. Follow SS7 into the mountains to Itri, stopping at the Appian park along the way. Enjoy the natural scenery, along with Roman milestones and castles as you begin your descent to Formia.

Day 4--Minturno to Santa Maria Capua Vetere (the true, historic Capua where Spartacus began his revolt). Spend some time site-seeing at Minturno, and hike the backcountry to the Ponte degli aurunci.

Day 5--Capua to Sant' Agata dei Goti. Take a detour along the river, avoiding traffic and looking for the site of the battle of the Claudine Forks. Beautiful mountain roads, lots of old ruins, and even a great pyramid! Really!

Day 6--Sant'Agata to Benevento. An easy ride, leaving lots of time for Benevento, which is almost a "Rome of the South". Here you can take an alternate route from Trajan's Arch to Bari, Brindisi and Lecce following the via Appia Traiana.

Day 7-8--Over the Apennines to Venoso. There are a lot of ways to get over the Appenines, with many different options for exploring, camping, eating and sleeping.

Day 9--Venoso to the Sasse. Stay in touristy, beautiful Matera, or go for the similar but quiet town of Gravina in Puglia. Both of these places have great food and lodging at cheap prices, breathtaking scenery and a fascinating history with the archeological remains to prove it.

Day 10--Sasse to Taranto. Wildflowers, caves, the Mediterranean sea, cannons going off at sunset and more Roman ruins if you can handle 'em. What's not to love?

Day 11--Taranto to Brindisi. Don't forget to stop for hand-made gelato in the Medieval fortress town of Oria. when you get to Brindisi, congratulate yourself! You've followed in the steps of Horace, Caesar, and countless poets, rulers, soldiers, philosopers and romantics.

Day 12-14--Brindisi to Lecce. This is the underappreciated heel of Italy. Normally, only Europeans come here, and they keep it a secret. But Lecce is rightly called "the Florence of southern Italy" and if you can spend a few days here you won't regret it.

Ride with me in Southern Italy--and get sponsors to pay for your travel!

I'm teaming up with a non-profit group to make this ride affordable and philanthropic

I'm organizing another bike tour of the Appian Way in May, 2010. But there's a new twist. This tour is going to be a fundraiser for the Adventure Cycling Association (http://www.adventurecycling.org/) and in a way, that means you can get a subsidized trip. Here's how it works.

We have a year to make it happen, so I'm putting together a final itinerary and a good estimate of the cost. That amount will be rounded up, and the total amount will be each rider's fundraising goal.

So if you want to ride, all you have to do is get your friends, family, and so on to sponsor you, and tell them you're supporting Adventure Cycling. You agree (on the honor system) to donate some or all of the amount you collect, and any surplus you raise.

Let's say, for example, the trip costs $1400. Your goal is to raise $2,000, keep $1400 of it to finance your bike tour, and donate the other $600 to Adventure Cycling.

I'm putting together a fundraising kit with templates, tips and other tools to help you get sponsors. You can follow the RSS feed of my blog from this lens, or email me if you want to get the fundraising kit.

By the way, any royalties I get from this lens are going to support my trip, and the surplus will go to the Adventure Cycling Association.

Follow the Appian way without leaving your chair

Books about traveling along the via Appia

If you want to really get into biking along the via Appia, or just learn some of its history, here's a great place to start. If you buy any books here, you'll help support my next bike tour, and my efforts to bring new riders along.

New book on biking via Appia

"Tutto Nascosto"

When I began the initial research for my first bike tour of via Appia, an otherwise helpful archeologist in Rome told me the way was "Tutto Nascosto," meaning competely hidden away.

There are a lot of different things he meant by this. Much of the Appian Way is hidden, destroyed by centuries of weathering, buried under new pavement and construction, or jealously guarded by those who are in the know. Scholars speculate and argue over where it went exactly, based on writings that are often over a thousand years old.

When I made the journey, all I had was a beginning, and end, and a few points along the way. It was up to me to connect the dots. I followed the true route to the best of my knowledge, because that was my goal. But the highlights of the trip weren't academic. The truly hidden treasures were the discoveries along the way, and this is how any good road trip turns out.

For a long time I've wrestled with writing a guidebook. I agonized over my own route notes, compared them with what the scholars told me, spent hours on Google Earth and talked to some professional cartographers.

Then I realized that if I gave you a detailed map with every kilometer and every turn clearly spelled out, I would be doing you a disservice. There are a few things I wish I had known on my first trip, and some discoveries and warnings I can share with you. But ultimately you'll have a lot more fun, adventure, and learning if you chart your own course.

So my guidebook is going to be a constellation of stories and highlights, with a few bits of geographical information thrown in when it might save time, money, or your life. The rest you can find out with a GPS or online. You'll have fun connecting the dots.

I'll be posting the book, one chapter at a time, on my blog. It's linked to this lens, or you can go straight to www.bicyclefreedom.com to see the whole thing. If it becomes popular, I might look into publishing a hardcopy version.

Also, I'm in touch with some camping, Bed-and-Breakfast and other similar places in Italy. If you'd like me to organize your trip, contact me via the lens or email Jacob "at" bicyclefreedom.com

Follow an ancient journey along the Appian way

Horace recounts his journey through Southern Italy from Rome to Brindisi

I may be among the first few people to travel the via Appia by bicycle and write about it, but I'm a couple thousand years too late to claim to be the first person ever to make the journey.

The ancient Roman poet Horace recounted the same trip in one of his famous satires, "From Rome to Brindisi, with Stops." If you're like me, you'd probably rather go out for a bike ride than hit up the library for a dusty old manuscript.

But luckily, someone else has done the work for you. You can read an translation of the entire journey on google books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=gMiDX7IQ9wEC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=Horace+%22from+rome+to+brindisi%22&source=bl&ots=dk6hxjup3C&sig=l8-B81CORYDGIhLMIQWkiqSdGP4&hl=en&ei=tEPdSaP0CJjcMZyI2dgN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPA58,M1

The url might be longer than Horace's account of the journey, which covers just about 4 pages. If this url is too much for you to handle, why not pick up a copy at Amazon.com. (see the links below)

Bicycle Freedom

Dare to get around on your own terms, on your own power

A blog on riding a bike, what it means for overcoming anything that limits you, and especially traveling through Italy and elsewhere by bicycle

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The Ride to Port Hueneme

Who needs a car when you can ride a bike from one city to another?

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RenaissanceWoman2010 May 12, 2011 @ 11:58 am | delete

I would so enjoy this journey. Thanks for inspiring me to get out there and find my epic bike quest.

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Bicycling the via Appia from Rome to Brindisi

A bike ride through Italian history and the Italy most tourists will never know

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

A suggested bike route following via Appia

A very rough itinerary for bike touring in Southern Italy

Ride with me in Southern Italy--and get sponsors to pay for your travel!

I'm teaming up with a non-profit group to make this ride affordable and philanthropic

Follow the Appian way without leaving your chair

Books about traveling along the via Appia

New book on biking via Appia

"Tutto Nascosto"

Follow an ancient journey along the Appian way

Horace recounts his journey through Southern Italy from Rome to Brindisi

Bicycle Freedom

Dare to get around on your own terms, on your own power

The Ride to Port Hueneme

Who needs a car when you can ride a bike from one city to another?

New Flickr Photos

New Guestbook

New Links Plexo

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Bike touring--roads or corridors?

The best biking in Italy or anywhere is "Do It Yourself"

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