TheVia Cassia (lit. 'Way ofCassius') was an importantRoman road striking out of theVia Flaminia near theMilvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far fromVeii, traversedEtruria.[1] TheVia Cassia passed throughBaccanae,Sutrium,Volsinii,Clusium,Arretium,Florentia,Pistoria, andLuca, joining theVia Aurelia atLuna.[2]
The Via Cassia intersected other important roads. At mile 11 theVia Clodia diverged north-north-west. AtSette Vene, another road, probably theVia Annia, branched off toFalerii. In Sutrium, theVia Ciminia split off and later rejoined.[3]
The date of its construction is uncertain: it cannot have been earlier than 187 BC, when the consulGaius Flaminius constructed a road fromBononia toArretium, which must have coincided with a portion of the later Via Cassia. It is not mentioned by any ancient authorities before the time ofCicero, who in 45 BC speaks of the existence of three roads from Rome to Mutina: the Flaminia, the Aurelia and the Cassia. A milestone of AD 124 mentions repairs to the road made byHadrian from the boundary of the territory ofClusium to Florentia, a distance of 86 miles (138 km).[3]
TheVia Amerina was a road that broke off from the Via Cassia near Baccanae, and held north throughFalerii,Tuder, andPerusia, rejoining the Via Cassia at Clusium. When the incursions ofFaroald, the LombardDuke of Spoleto, cut theVia Flaminia, the lifeline between Rome and Ravenna, the Via Amerina was improved and fortified at intervals, works that represented some of the last road-building carried out in Italy inlate antiquity. As the new military and strategic route, the Via Amerina "became the communications core of Imperial Italy and the chief support to the claim that imperial Italy was still extant".[4]
There are the remains of severalRoman bridges along the road, including the Ponte San Lorenzo and Ponte San Nicolao.
The road was used as part of theindividual road race cycling route for the1960 Summer Olympics inRome.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Cassia, Via". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 458.| International | |
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