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Via Domiziana is the modern name for theVia Domitiana in theCampania region ofItaly, a majorRoman road built in 95 AD under (and named for) the emperor,Domitian, to facilitate access to and from the important ports of Puteoli (modernPozzuoli) andPortus Julius (home port of the western Imperial fleet, consisting of the waters aroundBaiae andCape Misenum) in the Gulf ofNaples.[1][2]
The Via Domitiana was not built from scratch, but was based on an existing road and it also used works undertaken in theNeronian period for the construction of theFossa Neronis (the canal intended to connect Rome to Pozzuoli).
The road left theAppian Way at Formiae or Sinuessa. It followed the coast and crossed the rivers Savona and Volturna,[3] passed through an area of coastal lagoons byLinterne andCumae and ended inPozzuoli. In 102Trajan extended the Via Domitiana to Naples.
It was damaged byAlaric in 420 AD and ultimately destroyed byGaiseric in 455 AD. It was partially restored under various rulers of theKingdom of Naples in theMiddle Ages and in its modern guise is a major coast road leading north from Naples.
Statius wrote an entire poem on the theme of Via Domitiana.[4] He recalled the progress made by the new road and praised the Emperor. The poem is also an interesting testimony on the construction of roads under the Roman Empire.[5]
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