Appia Road Segment 08

From TOR TRE PONTI (Tripontium) to BORGO FAITI (Forum Appi)

This segment lies completely hidden under the SS7 – the modern Appia road, but several historical vestiges can be seen.

In front of the church dedicated to St Paul, which is part of a vast building complex dating back to the 17th century and probably built on the site of the statio Tripontium, we find two milestones: one dedicated to Emperor Nerva (96-98 AD) and the other to Emperor Constantine (306-337 AD).

At km 67 of the modern via Appia we find a bridge over the small Striscia canal with a span of 1.5 m and, 20 metres further on, another bridge with two arches over the river Ninfa with a span of 5 m (see G02 – Galliazzo n.131) built by Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) in square limestone bossage front (*).

From here the river water flows parallel to the Appia road and forms the first section of the Decennovius canal already navigable in Roman times and mentioned by poet Horace Flacco (56-8 BC) in his journey to Brindisi.

Continuing on, we find on the left a parallelepiped cippus commemorating the restoration work carried out by Emperor Trajan.

The next locality, Borgo Faiti, probably arose on the site of the statio Forum Appi, of which only fragments of buildings shredded by ploughing remain behind the hamlet of Frappo, an ancient pontifical post station.

Here we still find a bridge over the Cavata river with a span of 4.5 m in opus quadratum (*)and whose water flows into the parallel canal (see G02 – Galliazzo n.114).

This is followed by the junction with the “via Setina” for Sezze (**).

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in glossary.

(**) Sezze, the ancient Setia, is only 10 km from the axis of the Appia road and is well worth a visit to arches of San Lidano (see G02 – Galliazzo n.122 and “Torre Petrara”sepulchre ,…)