Appia Road Segment 11

From SHRINE OF FERONIA (Lucus Feronia) to TERRACINA (Tarracina)

 

The historical photos that are still available on this segment show a paved back straight stretch flanked by an antique aqueduct (**) with stonework pinnacles.

Today, having passed the site of the statio Lucus Feronia coinciding with the Shrine of Feronia, the route is accompanied by the haphazard development of modern buildings.

On the approximately 3 km straight stretch, which was also the axis of the Roman centuriation (*), small houses and sepulchres accumulate in an incredible human aggregate of the living and the dead.

Among these glorious testimonies, two large mausoleums measuring more than 10 x 6 m, although completely stripped of all covering, deserve attention.

The large number of tombs on the Appia road before and after the city of Terracina (Tarracina) reflects the great desire of citizens to be buried along the ‘Regina viarum.

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(*) See centuriation in glossary

(**) Remains of the earlier Roman aqueduct can be seen near the railway station of La Fiora, 2 km north of the Shrine of Feronia, where a grandiose aqueduct-bridge from the 2nd century AD is preserved.