A short guide that allows to visit the Appian way as best as you can.
Among all roads, the Appian way remains the richest in memories, and in and of itself it has risen to being venerated, even as a cult. Along the itinerary of the Appian Way, we can distinguish, in the first place, a tract that can be called “urban,” because it is external to the Republican walls but included within the walls constructed by Aurelianus between 271 A.D. and 275 A.D. The area however has been profoundly transformed and the ancient layout can no longer be recognized. Only starting from the point of Piazzale Numa Pompilio is the itinerary of the Appian Way and its adjacent monuments partially conserved, even though these have often been decontextualized by their insertion into later structures. The itinerary is also rich with memories of the martyrs, as is the case of the church of the Oratorio dei Sette Dormienti, where paintings from the eleventh and twelfth centuries recall the legend of the Ephesian saints who were walled up by order of Decius and found again living two centuries later.