- Via Latina
The Via Latina, or the "Latin Way", was a
Roman road ofItaly , running southeast fromRome for about convert|120|mi|km.It led from the
Porta Latina to the pass ofMons Algidus , so important in the early military history of Rome; and it must have preceded theVia Appia as a route toCampania , in as much as the Latin colony atCales was founded in334 BC and must have been accessible from Rome by road, whereas the Via Appia was only made twenty-two years later. It follows, too, a far more natural line of communication, without the engineering difficulties which the Via Appia had to encounter. As a through route it no doubt preceded theVia Labicana , though the latter may have been preferred in later times.After their junction, the Via Latina continued to follow the valley of the
Trerus (Sacco ), following the line taken by the modern railway toNaples , and passing below the Hernican hill-towns,Anagnia ,Ferentinum ,Frusino , etc. AtFregellae it crossed theLiris , and then passed throughAquinum and Casinum, both of them comparatively low-lying towns. It then entered the interval between the Apennines and the volcanic group ofRocca Monfina , and the original road, instead of traversing it, turned abruptly northeast over the mountains toVenafrum , thus giving a direct communication with the interior ofSamnium by roads to Aesernia andTelesia .In later times, however, there was in all probability a short cut by
Rufrae along the line taken by the modern highroad and railway. The two lines rejoined near the present railway station ofCaianiello and the road ran to Teanum and Cales, and so to Casilinum, where was the crossing of theVolturnus and the junction with the Via Appia. The distance from Rome to Casilinum was convert|129|mi|km by the Via Appia, convert|135|mi|km by the old Via Latina through Venafrum, convert|126|mi|km by the short cut by Rufrae. Considerable remains of the road exist in the neighborhood of Rome; for the first convert|40|mi|km, as far asCompitum Anagninum , it is not followed by any modern road; while farther on in its course it is in the main identical with the modern highroad.References
* T. Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome iv. I sq., v. 1 sq.
*
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