Via Regina (Latin:Antica Strada Regina) is the oldRoman road which ran fromCremona toMilan. It was based on an earliertrade route. the total length of the road was about 75 kilometres (47 mi)[1] Associated with it was the road along the western shore ofLake Como across theMilanese plain, that linked up withValchiavenna.[2]
The name "Via Regina" (strada regia, royal road, hence main road) was given to it much later on and is first documented in the year 1187. Together with the waterway of Lake Como and thePo River, the Via Regina and associated paths were used by sailors, soldiers and merchants, as well as local traffic, with parts of it being suitable for vehicles, some just mule tracks, and a few pedestrian only paths. For centuries it constituted a true "Lake Como system", an articulate network of routes pointing northwards, to theAlpine passes, and southwards, towards Milan, the hub for thePo Valley.[2]