Whenever we had a bit of free time during the first three days in Rome, we researched and thought about what we might be able to squeeze in on our fourth and final full day in the city. The only unmissable item still on my list was a walk along the Appian Way. As I mentioned previously, I’d had a LOT of Roman history in school (Latin classes from 7^th – 12^th grade) and from what I remembered it seemed that the Appian Way featured in many stories of the ancient world. So that was definitely on the A (unmissable) list. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite figure out from Google Maps and other sources where exactly I needed to go to see THE Appian Way. I could see “Via Appia Antica” on a map, with many Roman and early Christian structures on either side of the road; what I didn’t see was a museum or archaeological park or even a central information kiosk. I could see pictures on Google of the ancient paving stones, but in the same entry are pictures of a real-life, currently-in-use road with modern cars driving on it. I couldn’t quite figure out where exactly the modern road ended and the ancient pavers began. So I copped out, set it to the side, and instead concentrated on a couple of sites that would get us close to the spot where it seemed the Via Appia Antica left the modern city.

Our first stop of the day was the Baths of Caracalla. And just WOW!! As an add-on and not one of our primary attractions, we really couldn’t have chosen better. In fact, if I’d known before making plans what I knew after visiting the Baths, they would have definitely made the A list. Our Colosseum tour guide said something on the tour that has stuck with me: “In ancient Rome, big meant big!” The Romans built big and they built to last. The Baths of Caracalla were GIGANTIC! We took the metro and then a bus to get to the Baths, passing by the Circus Maximus (another place name I recognized from Latin class) on the way. Unlike everywhere we’d been in Rome up to that point, there was hardly any line to get tickets for the Baths. We also opted to pay a little extra for the Virtual Reality tour. It was the first VR tour we’d ever done and it was so cool! At designated intervals, you could look through your VR glasses and see what that spot would have looked like in ancient times while listening to your ancient guide — and turning in circles looking for his digital representation — describe it. (He may have been a digital Cicero, though I could be misremembering). Big is big for sure! And beautiful, too!

After the baths we continued our walk out of the city toward the Appian Way, stopping next at the Museo de Mura, the City Wall museum. As you’d imagine, the City Wall museum showcased the ruins and rebuilt remains of the Roman city walls, along with a gate over the road and a couple of towers. There was absolutely no line here at all — in fact, when we arrived we may have been the only tourists visiting. We climbed a circular stone staircase at the base of the gate and met a museum volunteer on the first floor. There was no entry fee. She directed us to a room where a film explaining the walls was showing. The film was in English, but there were two other people in the room chatting with each other and we couldn’t hear it. John actually asked them to please quiet down — they moved out of the center of the room toward a wall, but we still couldn’t hear the film. Annoying, but ultimately not that big a deal as walls are pretty self-explanatory. During our self-guided tour of the small museum (not really any displays other than the walls themselves) we passed through a hall at the top of the gate complex that had a table set up with bottles of champagne and juice, cups, plates, silverware, and a few picked-over trays of sandwiches and sweets. They must have had some sort of meeting or fundraiser or other event in the museum just before we’d arrived. John was not shy — it was time for a mid-morning snack, after all! He poured us each a glass of champagne and we snuck a few little sandwiches, munching and drinking as we looked out the windows into the countryside outside the city. As we were eating, another tourist couple entered the hall. They looked at us, they looked at the snacks, they passed along through. We helped ourselves to a second serving, imagining we were Roman guards grabbing a snack at our duty stations. As we were leaving the hall, the couple came back in through the far door and as I turned around before passing through the exit, I spied them helping themselves to some juice and sweets as well (we’d finished the champagne). We’re such trendsetters! We left a nice donation in the museum collection bin before leaving.

Our few stolen cocktail sandwiches and sweets weren’t quite enough to sustain us, so we kept an eye out for restaurants as we continued walking out of the city toward the Appian Way. We didn’t see much. We checked in with our friend Google … and still didn’t see much. After one hair-raising road crossing (could not see in either direction and cars were flying), we found a driveway to a fancy restaurant on a hill. Google said they were open, but we were definitely the first customers of the day. I’m pretty sure it was more of a dinner restaurant than a lunch place, but the doors were open and the host greeted us warmly. We had a lovely Italian meal and bottle of red, then resumed our trek to the Appian Way.

Unfortunately, because I’d hit a wall with my research that I never got around to working through, we really had no idea where we were going. We saw a place to rent bicycles, which John wanted to do, but we were still on modern pavement and I wanted ancient paving stones, damnit! (Complete with ruts worn through them from all the 1^st century military carts heading to war and returning victoriously home to Rome, please). So we pressed on. There was a group of people ahead of us who turned off the main road into more of a park-like path. I thought they might be heading to the Appian Way and suggested we follow them. John disagreed, but he let me take the lead. He shouldn’t have — it was very much the wrong move; go figure, a park-like path ended up in a park, no Appian Way in sight. It was a lovely park and we had a nice walk — saw some trees, some livestock, a lot of grass, a ruin or two. But it wasn’t the Appian Way. John gave me about an hour of bumbling around before he pulled out Google and put us back on a route to intersect with Via Appia. We left the park and had to cross a couple of major roads, but he got us to exactly where I’d wanted to go. (Sorry for being a dumbass and thanks for being so patient!!). Turns out, the modern Via Appia more or less dissolves into the ancient Via Appia — there’s no pedestrianized or protected section like I was looking for. The road gets small and most traffic veers off onto a bigger modern road, but if you want to drive your car down the ancient Roman way you can. And they do. It’s CRAZY! But it’s the Via Appia, rutted paving stones and all. We stopped for a beer at a roadside café; they were closing so we took it to go. I drank a beer and walked the ancient Roman Road! I was happy and my Roman holiday was now complete 😊.

Today’s step count: 23,780 steps / 10.7 miles

4(ish) Days in Rome: Additional Days Linked Below

Arrival Day | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Departure Day