All roads lead to Rome

M – Good morning, and welcome back.
I am Marcello from VitorItaly, for those who don’t know us we are an Italian Tour Operator specialised in tours to Italy, and here we are at our appointment with Curious about Italy? the podcast to find out everything you need to know about Italy. Patrizia is here with me, Patrizia, what do you want to talk about today?
P – Marcello, among the questions that our travellers ask us, the most frequent ones concern how to move around Italy
M – Sure, a very important question. First of all, let me say that from the Alps to Sicily, there are 1200 km. In addition to this, you must consider the physical characteristics of Italy. In the north, we have the Alps with their classic mountain landscape. Going south, the mountains are still let me say the “backbone” of the country; we call them Appennini, and they cross Italy from north to south, and separate the east from the west coast. And consider that the southern tip of Italy, in Sicily, near Siracusa, is south of the northernmost tip of Africa, in Tunisia.
Italy is crossed by a motorway network that runs throughout the country. The first highway was built in the 1950s and was nicknamed AUTOSTRADA DEL SOLE, the Highway of the Sun…… Italians could buy cars and set off to discover their country, and Autostrada del Sole was the main communication route between North and South. Autostrada del Sole, also called A1, goes from Milan to Naples. The other main motorways are the A4, connecting Turin in the Northwest to Trieste in the Northeast, passing by Venice, and the A14, running along the West Coast, on the Adriatic Sea, from Bologna to Puglia.
Trains also connect the various locations in a very capillary way. There are 2 networks: the ordinary and the high-speed. The high-speed trains connect the main cities, Milan, Turin, Florence, Rome and Naples, and the section from Milan to Venice is under construction; it will be ready in 3 or 4 years. At Vitor, we use high-speed trains for our customers whenever possible. Two companies offer high-speed connections, Trenitalia and Italo. Trenitalia, which is a state-owned company, also manages the regular network.
Last but not least, the public ferries connect the “continent” with the islands, the larger ones such as Sicily and Sardinia, but also the smaller ones such as Capri or Favignana,
As we always tell our friends, the beauty of Italy lies precisely in the extreme variety it can offer. Still, this variety can create some inconveniences if you do not know the territory and the best means to move around, depending on where you start and where you want to go. On some routes, it is better to rely on public service; in some circumstances, it is better to avoid it. Italy is beautiful, but travelling can be complicated if you don’t know it well. In general, public transport in the south is slower and less frequent, so in these areas, we prefer to use private cars or minivans instead of trains. As a rule, we always select the most reliable means of transportation, be it the train or the private vehicle, so as not to create any inconvenince to our travellers, and with an eye at sustainability, which means that we always suggest the train as the main option.
P – Does this also apply to travel within cities?
M – Yes, public transport (metro, bus, taxi) does not work the same way everywhere, and in some cities, getting around by these means can be complicated. A special case is Venice: here, you move on the water on the public boats (they are still called Vaporetti, steamboats, even they do not use steam), and Venetians, they have their own boats.
In general, however, remember that we are moving into a territory with much history behind it.
P – In what sense?
M – In the sense that some of the roads that we still travel today were built by the ancient Romans, and those routes continue to bear the name of those who made them: Via Aurelia, which connects Rome to Genoa and beyond to France, and Via Appia, from Rome to Brindisi in Puglia, take their names from the Consuls Aurelius and Appius Claudius. The consul Aemilius Paulus gave his name not only to a road, the Via Emilia, from Piacenza (south of Milan) to Rimini on the Adriatic coast but even to the region crossed by this road, Emilia (where Parma and Bologna are). Via Salaria, connecting Rome with Ascoli in Le Marche region on the Adriatic coast, takes its name from the fact that it was the main route through which salt, SAL in Latin, arrived in Rome from the Adriatic Sea.
And, it goes without saying, excavations in Italy to carry out any work, on the surface or underground, are far more complicated; centuries of stratified history emerge from the earth and return precious treasures.
P – Marcello, the motto “all roads lead to Rome” comes to my mind
M – Absolutely. That’s just the way it is. Rome was like a kind of sun from which the roads leading to all the provinces of the Empire radiated out. The roads were paved to make them more resistant and to avoid water stagnation and the formation of mud. No other people in that historical era could match the ability of Romans to design the routes, their construction techniques and their organization of assistance to travellers. These roads contributed enormously to the development of the Empire. Armies moved on those roads, and goods of various kinds passed. Politics, administration, trade, military campaigns, a crazy thing thinking about the tools and resources of the time.
P – And even today, time is over. What do you suggest we visit today?
M – Well, we talked about roads, so the track of Via Appia Antica comes to my mind, a few kilometres south of Rome.
The Appian Way is almost 2300 years old, but the signs of an illustrious past are still clearly visible among the ruins along the road. The Way starts from the “Domine, quo vadis?” church. This place is very popular: St. Peter was fleeing the persecution ordered by Emperor Nero in Rome, and here the legend says that here he met Jesus, who was heading for Rome. Peter recognised him and asked: ”Master, where are you going?” – Domine, quo vadis? And Jesus answered: “I am going to Rome, to be crucified”. So Peter understood that his mission was not to escape persecution, but to face it and be killed, and he returned to Rome. From here begins a long straight stretch of the Roman road, exceptionally well preserved and dotted with hundreds of ancient monuments. Along it are the most important Christian catacombs, le Catacombe di San Callisto. It’s a very beautiful excursion, to be done on foot or by bicycle.
P – And if all roads lead to Rome…
M – All we can say is… see you in Rome! CIAO!!!