When we arrive at Tarracina (called Anxur by the Volsci, an Italic people who dominated this area before it was conquered by the Romans), we find a change in the road. The original route had a 1000 ft.high, 3-mile-long crawl up and over a steep cliff. Trajan, always interested in how to speed communications, decided to send his engineers to make a new cut in the road. This image shows the cut. The engineers must have been impressed with the project since they inscribed the depth of the cutting every 10 Roman feet. The lowest mark shows the figure CXX. This change on the Appian Way shortened the travel by only one land mile but saved a half-day of travel.
Just a bit over 60 miles from Rome we come to a beautiful seaside city. At the top of the cliff, 1000 ft. above the bay, the Romans had constructed an elaborate temple to Jupiter. They built an elaborate understructure to level the area on which the temple stood. One can deviate from the Appian Way for a short visit to Sperlonga where Tiberius was said to have had a summer grotto-dining area.
It was here that Sejanus is said to have threatened his own safety in order to save the emperor from some falling rocks. In doing so, he became (for a time) Tiberius' most trusted advisor. The first stop after leaving Tarracina is in through the malaria filled swamps of Fundi, a place mentioned in Horace's Satire 1.5. Pilings were sunk to try to fill the area and eliminate the swamp. Many people died filling this swamp. Generations to come would also attempt to fill the swamp to rid the area of the malaria-bearing mosquito.
We continue on into the mountains to the city of Itri (name derived by the Latin word iter) where we drive up a viaduct which angles with a more than 20% incline.
Formiae is the next stop, a place famous for Cicero's villa and the site of his murder. Cicero, although not involved in the assassination of Caesar, was long known as opposing the man and his policies. In the aftermath of the assassination, he gave a series of speeches (Philippics) against Antony. Siding with Octavian in the contest that arose between Octavian and Antony, Cicero gave a persuasive speech in the Senate which prompted them to declare war on Antony. Lepidus however arranged a conference with the two, the Second Triumvirate was formed and a proscription list of enemies of 'the state' was created. Cicero was among those declared enemies of the state. He was captured and killed near his villa in Formiae on 7 December, 43 BCE.
Take one last look at Tarracina from the temple at Anxur.
Aricia