TheVia Aemilia (Italian:Via Emilia,English:Aemilian Way) was a trunkRoman road in the north Italian plain, running fromAriminum (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, toPlacentia (Piacenza) on the RiverPadus (Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The Via Aemilia connected at Rimini with theVia Flaminia, which had been completed 33 years earlier, to Rome.
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The land today known as northern Italy (Italia settentrionale) was known to the ancient Romans during the republican period (to 44 BC) asGallia Cisalpina (literally: Gaul on the near – i.e. southern – side of the Alps) because it was then inhabited byCeltic tribes from Gaul, who had colonised the area in the 4th and 5th centuries BC.
Italia meant the area inhabited by Italic tribes: the border betweenItalia andGallia Cisalpina was roughly a line betweenPisae (Pisa) andAriminum.Gallia Cisalpina contained thePianura padana (Po river plain). This vast country, by far the largest fertile plain in the mountainous peninsula, contained potentially its best agricultural land, and offered the Romans the opportunity to expand enormously their population and economic resources by mass colonisation.
The Romans subjugated the Gauls of the Pianura Padana in a series of hard-fought campaigns in the late 3rd century BC.[1] By 220 BC, the Via Flaminia was completed, providing the Romans with ready access to the region. However, Roman expansion was delayed for some twenty years by theSecond Punic War. During theCarthaginian generalHannibal's invasion of Italy (218 BC–203 BC), Roman military control of the Pianura Padana was temporarily overthrown. Many of the recently defeated tribes (such as theInsubres and theBoii) rebelled and joined forces with Hannibal in the hope of regaining their independence.[2]
It was not until 189 BC that the rebel tribes had been pacified sufficiently to allow work on the Via Aemilia to begin.
The time-tested Roman method of expansion was to build a brand new road straight through the newly conquered territory, and then establish a string of colonies, either of civilian settlers or of military veterans along its route. The settlers would be allocated fertile plots from lands confiscated from the defeated native peoples. This was the precise function of the Via Aemilia: its period of construction also saw the foundation of Roman colonies along its whole length atBononia (Bologna) (founded 189 BC),Mutina (Modena),Regium (Reggio Emilia), andParma (all founded in 183 BC).
The Via Aemilia was completed by, and named after, the Roman consulMarcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187 BC.[3] It was built, on elevated embankments, in part, on top of an older road system that linked the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The consular road ran, largely in a straight line, 176 Roman miles (260 km) NW from Rimini to its termination at Piacenza, connected pre-existing towns, such as Piacenza, Bologna and Rimini.[4]
The road ran along the southern edge of the flat Pianura Padana within sight of the northern foothills of Italy'sApennine Mountains, crossing numerous tributary rivers of the Po, notably theRubicon near Rimini[4] and the RiverTrebbia near Piacenza. In the century following the construction of the Via Aemilia, Piacenza became the key Roman road hub in the pianura padana. In 148 BC, theVia Postumia linked Piacenza toAquileia on the north Adriatic coast. In 109 BC, the consulMarcus Aemilius Scaurus completed theVia Aemilia Scaura toGenua (Genoa) andPisae (Pisa).
There are the remains of several Roman bridges along the road, including thePonte d'Augusto, Ponte di Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, Ponte San Vito, Ponte sul Reno, Ponte sul Rubicone, andPonte sul Taro.
At Rimini, the starting point of the Via Aemilia, the road'sPonte di Tiberio still exists,[4] a massive structure spanning the RiverMarecchia, started by the Emperor Augustus and completed by his successor Tiberius. It still bears its twin dedicatory inscriptions.[5]
At Bologna, milestone 78 was found in the bed of the RiverReno. It records Augustus' reconstruction of theAemilia, in 2 BC, from Rimini as far as the River Trebbia. Remains of theAemilia bridge over the Reno were found in the 1890s, consisting of parts of the parapets from each side. These were originally 38.75 feet apart, of Veronese red marble.
The bed of the river was found to have risen at least 20 feet since this bridge collapsed in the 9th century.[6] Ruins of some of the other ancient Roman bridges still exist.
AtSavignano sul Rubicone a Roman bridge survived until it was demolished as recently as World War II. The current bridge is a reconstruction.
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The construction of the Via Aemilia launched the intensive Roman colonisation of the Pianura Padana. The vast agricultural potential of this region soon rendered it the most populous and economically important part of Italy, overshadowing Central Italy, Rome and the South.
The area remains economically preeminent in modern Italy. By the time of the Second Triumvirate (44 BC – 30 BC), Romanisation of this formerly Celtic country was so complete that the province ofGallia Cisalpina was abolished and its territory incorporated into the heartland province ofItalia.
The road gave its name to that part ofGallia Cisalpina through which it ran. This area was, before the Roman conquest, the territory of the Gallic tribesBoii (who gave their name to the city of Bologna) andSenones. It was already commonly referred to asAemilia by the time the Emperor Augustus assumed sole power. In around 7 BC, when Augustus divided theprovincia of Italia into 11regiones (administrative districts), the area became the eighthregio.[7] This initially had the official name ofPadus, but was later changed toAemilia.
The western part of this area is still known as Emilia today. The boundaries of the Roman VIII regio roughly corresponded to those of the modern Italian administrative region ofEmilia-Romagna. Its inhabitants are today known asEmiliani. The modern Italian State Road 9 is still officially called Via Emilia and follows the Roman route over much of its length. Indeed, the modern road in many parts lies directly above the Roman road.