Via Flaminia

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Via Flaminia
Roman censor
Periods220 BCE
Adriatic in Ancona

The Via Flaminia (lit. 'Flaminian Way') was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium, Campania, and the Po Valley. The section running through northern Rome is where Constantine the Great, allegedly, had his famous vision of the Chi Rho, leading to his conversion to Christianity and the Christianization of the Roman Empire.[1]

Today the same route, still called by the same name for much of its distance, is paralleled or overlaid by Strada Statale (SS) 3, also called Strada Regionale (SR) 3 in

Apennines and the Umbrian Apennines to Fano
on the coast and goes north, parallel to Highway A14 to Rimini.

This route, once convenient to Roman citizens and other travelers, is now congested by heavy traffic between north Italy and the capital at Rome. It remains a country road, while the traffic crosses by railway and autostrada through dozens of tunnels between Florence and Bologna, a shorter, more direct route under the ridges and nearly inaccessible passes.

History

It was constructed by

Furlo), in AD 77, and Trajan, as inscriptions show, repaired several bridges along the road.[2]

During the period of Roman expansion in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the Flaminia became, with the sea route, a main axis of transportation by which wheat from the

Po valley
supplied Rome and central Italy.

A number of major battles were fought on or near the Via Flaminia, for example at Sentinum (near the modern Sassoferrato) and near Tadinum (the modern Gualdo Tadino). Constantine the Great's famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge also occurred on the road, after his nearby dream of the Chi Rho (which led to his conversion and that of the Roman Empire to Christianity).[1]

In late antiquity the Via Flaminia remained Rome’s major artery both to the Adriatic and to Italy north of the Apennines. The Itinerarium Burdigalense and the Priscillianists who had been expelled from their sees both took this route to Rome despite its length.[3]

After the fall of the western Roman Empire the route remained in use, and when the Ostrogothic king Theodahad set out from Ravenna for Rome around 535, a letter of Cassiodorus mentions work done to repair the road.[4] After the emperor Justinian invaded Italy, competition between the Goths and Romans over strongpoints on the road resulted in more activity through a route that ran slightly to the north through Perugia, the old Etruscan Via Amerina.

The Lombard conquest ultimately resulted in the breaking of the Via Flaminia. In the late sixth century the Via Flaminia was severed by the establishment of the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto, with the border around contested Narni. In its place was established the 'Byzantine corridor', a new route linking Rome and Ravenna that departed both cities on the Via Flaminia but which was forced due to political circumstances to pass through Perugia rather than Spoleto.[5]

In the

Napoleonic era and World War II
. As the SS 3 (Strada Statale 3) it remains one of the principal highways from Rome to the Adriatic coast.

The bridge of Narni in an 1826 painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Ancient route

The Via Flaminia began at the

Campidoglio to the Porta Flaminia, a city gate of the Aurelian Walls, and the Piazzale Flaminio.[6]
This portion can be considered the urban stretch of the Via Flaminia.

The road then crosses the Tiber at the Ponte Milvio. While the Via Cassia split off north, the Via Flaminia veared east before turning north again to follow the Tiber, and continued on to Saxa Rubra and Prima Porta. On a hill to the right of the Via Flaminia, a little beyond Prima Porta, are the ruins of Ad Gallinas,[7] a villa that belonged to Livia, the wife of Augustus.[8]

From there it made its way to Ocriculum (

Forum Flaminii (S. Giovanni Profiamma). Later, a more circuitous route from Narnia to Forum Flaminii was adopted, increasing the distance by 12 Roman miles (18 km) and passing by Interamna Nahars (Terni), Spoletium (Spoleto) and Fulginium (Foligno) from which a branch diverged to Perusia (Perugia).[2]

From Forum Flaminii, where the two branches rejoined, the Flaminia went on to Nuceria Camellaria (Nocera Umbra) whence a branch road ran to Septempeda and thence either to Ancona or to Tolentinum (Tolentino) and Urbs Salvia (Urbisaglia) and Helvillum (site uncertain, probably Sigillo, but maybe Fossato di Vico), to cross the main ridge of the Apennines, a temple of Jupiter Apenninus standing at or near the summit of the pass according to one ancient author.[2] From there it descended to Cales (Cagli), where it turned north-east following the gorges of the Burano.

The narrowest pass was crossed by means of a tunnel chiseled out of solid rock: a first tunnel apparently of the 3rd century BC was replaced by an adjacent tunnel by

Gola del Furlo
, the ancient name of which, Intercisa, means "cut through" with reference to these tunnels. The modern 2‑lane road, the SS 3 Flaminia, still uses Vespasian's tunnel, the emperor's dedicatory inscription still in place; remnants of the earlier tunnel can also be seen.

The Flaminia emerged from the gorges of the Apennines at Forum Sempronii (

Constantine was always administered with Picenum.[2]

Via Flaminia minor

The Via Flaminia minor (Via Flaminia Militare) was a more western route, constructed by Gaius Flaminius (son of the former Gaius Flaminius) in 187 BC from Bononia (Bologna) to Arretium (Arezzo). It gradually fell into disuse, and disappeared after the Middle Ages. Its exact route is unknown although in 1977 Franco Santi and Cesare Agostini claimed to have found remnants, as yet unconfirmed.[10]

Remains

For an overview of the location of Roman bridges, see List of Roman bridges.
The road passing through Carsulae

Extant remains of the road consist of rare patches of pavement (by far the largest is an intermittent stretch about 800 meters long at Rignano Flaminio in the northern Lazio), but for the most part of bridges, listed here in order from Rome:

  • From Rome to Narni:
    • the Milvian Bridge (Ponte Milvio)
    • the Pile di Augusto
    • Ponte Sanguinaro S of Narni
    • the great bridge at Narni
  • Along the western branch:
    • Ponte Caldaro, damaged in World War II
    • Ponte Calamone both before Sangemini
    • Ponte Fonnaia near Acquasparta
    • a bridge just outside Acquasparta, on which was built the church of S. Giovanni de Butris
    • Ponte del Diavolo at Cavallara near Bastardo
  • Along the eastern branch:
    • Ponte Sanguinaro in Spoleto
    • scant remains of a bridge at Pontebari
Mallio Bridge at Cagli
  • After the branches rejoin at S. Giovanni Profiamma:
    • bridge-like structure at Pieve Fanonica
    • Le Spugne near Nocera Umbra
    • three bridges in the comune of Fossato di Vico (one of which, however, belongs properly to a branch road off the main trunk of the Flaminia)
    • Ponte Spiano in Costacciaro
    • an imposing bridge at Villa Scirca, blown up in World War II
    • five bridges in the comune of Cantiano, near Pontedazzo and Pontericcioli
    • Ponte Mallio (or Manlio) at Cagli, which appears to be partly of pre-Roman (Umbrian) construction
    • Tunnel at Furlo Pass

Other notable Roman vestiges along the road, aside from those within the individual towns, include a pair of tower tombs between Bevagna and Foligno; and along the eastern branch of the Flaminia in particular, in the area between Spoleto and Trevi, many small Romanesque churches, partly built of reused Roman stone (spolia) — including a few inscriptions — mark the straight line of the road quite clearly. A small stretch of the road remains in the ruins of Carsulae where it passes through the Arco di Traiano.

Sport

The road was used as part of the individual road race cycling event for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

In Rome it runs past and gives its name to the Stadio Flaminio sports stadium.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Cardinal Gregory: 'These are the people I am called to love, care for, serve' - Vatican News". www.vaticannews.va. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  2. ^ a b c d  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Flaminia, Via". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 476.
  3. ^ Piay Augusto, Diego (2014). ""At tum Instantius, Salvianus et Priscillianus Romam profecti:" el viaje de los priscillianistas hacia la ciudad eterna". Antiquité tardive. 22: 157–176.
  4. ^ Senator, Cassiodorus (1894). Variae (MGH Auctores Antiquissimi, Theodore Mommsen ed.). Berlin: Weidmann. p. 375.
  5. doi:10.1525/sla.2022.6.2.284
    .
  6. ^ Lugli, Giuseppe. " Flaminia, Via", Treccani, 1932
  7. ^ Quilici, L., S. Quilici Gigli, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies (12 January 2021). "Places: 422809 (Ad Gallinas Albas)". Pleiades.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Plin. xv. 30. s. 40; Suetonius|Suet. Galb. 1.
  9. ^ Epigr. vii. 93, 8
  10. ISBN 88-491-1442-7

External links

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