The Via Appia is one of the earliest and most strategically important roads of ancient Rome. The construction of Via Appia was begun in 312 BC by Appius Claudius, a Roman censor.

The Appian Way connected Rome to Capua. At first it only extended 132 miles (about 212 km) south-southeast from Rome to ancient Capua in Campania.

However, by 244 BC it had been extended another 230 miles (about 370 km) to reach the port of Brundisium (Brindisi), known as the “heel of Italy”, across the Adriatic Sea.

The Romans considered it the “queen of roads” (regina viarum). Given the era in which it was built, it is regarded as one of the greatest feats of civil engineering in the ancient world due to the enormous economic, military, and cultural impact it had on Roman society.