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Appian Way (Via Appia Antica)
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On your way to the Catacombs, admire the glorious Ancient Appian Way, known as "the Queen of the Roads"! Possibly the oldest road still in existence, it was ancient Rome’s most important military and economic artery and it’s largely intact today! It is made of large, flat stones, it survived thousands of years of rain, wheels, and feet passing over them. Originally built for military purposes, it connected Rome to some of its most distant settlements and was a crucial road for the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar walked it along with thousands of other soldiers, leaders, and consuls. When you walk along the Appian Way, you are walking in the footsteps of Roman emperors, saints (maybe even St. Peter!) The famous slave leader Spartacus was crucified on the via Appia in 71 BC. For its history and beauty, the first 10 miles of the Appian Way are now a part of a regional park, Parco dell’Appia Antica, where the road and the monuments that surround it are protected.
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Catacombe di San Callisto
1h · Admission ticket included
Deep in the green Roman countryside, descend into the ancient world of the Catacombs, a complex network of underground tunnels among the longest in the world, occupying an area of about fifteen hectares and consisting of about 37 miles of tunnels on several levels. The specific catacomb visited, San Calisto, San Sebastiano, or Santa Domitilla, will depend on the day.
In any of the catacombs, you will have the opportunity to see ancient frescoes, crypts with inscriptions carved on the walls, niches with the remains of skeletons, small mausoleums, sarcophagi, tombs, and small chapels, which still today, after about 2,000 years, are used to celebrate religious rites. After the tour, back in the sunlight, your driver will take you back to the original starting point near the Colosseum
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Terme di Caracalla
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The Baths of Caracalla (Italian: Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city's second-largest Roman public baths, or thermae. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla.[2] They were in operation until the 530s and then fell into disuse and ruin.
Both during and since their operation as baths, they inspired many other notable buildings, ancient and modern, such as the Baths of Diocletian, the Basilica of Maxentius, the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City, Chicago Union Station, and the Senate of Canada Building. Artworks recovered from the ruins include famous sculptures such as the Farnese Bull and the Farnese Hercules.
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The Aurelian Walls (Italian: Mura aureliane) is a line of city walls built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. They superseded the earlier Servian Wall built during the 4th century BC.
The walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city limits appear to have been left unfortified, although they were fortified along the Campus Martius. The size of the entire enclosed area is 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres).[1] The wall cut through populated areas: in reality the city at the time embraced 2,400 hectares or 6,000 acres.[citation needed] Pliny the Elder in the first century AD suggested that the densely populated areas, extrema tectorum ("the limits of the roofed areas") extend 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) from the Golden Milestone in the Forum (Natural History 3.67)
