Appia Road Segment 25

From Farm GALEONE (Mesochorus) to BRINDISI (Brundisium)

 
This segment is only partly recognisable by the straight route of a secondary road leading to Oria, a probable statio Urbius (Uria,Urias,Ories).

Only through aerophotography can its route be assumed to pass near a Messapian site (*) in the Vicentino locality.

Near Farm Amosso we find traces of a Messapic temple.

From Oria, along minor but straight roads, it is possible to follow the probable route of the Appia road, passing through ancient Messapian localities and encountering some chapels (Madonna di Gallano, Santa Cecilia) or typical buildings.

The statio Scamnum was probably located in the area surrounded by a Messapian fortification known as “Il Paretone” at Farm Muro.

The Appia road passes by it, skirting the walls on a rural route through a grandiose olive grove, heading in a straight line towards Mesagne.

From here, the ancient road is buried by the SS7 – the modern Appia road, all the way to Brindisi (Brundisium)(**).

The unique and symbolic historical testimony of the Appia road is the triumphal “terminal“expressed in a monumental and scenic prospectus by two 19 m high marble columns set above a high flight of steps facing the sea like a beacon to the East.

Only one has withstood the test of time, while the second, which collapsed in an earthquake, was reassembled in Lecce to support the statue of the Patron Saint Oronzo.

These, together with the “Settidozio” monumental “overture” placed at Porta Capena (Rome), were commissioned by Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 A.D.) to commemorate the restorations he carried out on the entire Appia road and also on the Trajanic variant.

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in glossary.

is worth a visit.