Italy is perhaps the country which has the most UNESCO “World Heritage Sites” anywhere in the world. A new site may soon be added to the prestigious list as Rome’s Baths of Diocletian (they were once the largest in the Roman Empire) hosted today the protocol of intent for the “Queen of the Roads”, aka the Appia Antica as a candidate for UNESCO’s “World Heritage Site”.
The “Regina Viarum”, as the Appian Way is also known, was built in 312 B.C. under the censor Appius Claudius (The Blind). It stretches 900 km from Rome all the way to Brindisi and was once an important route for the Roman Empire from a cultural, political, social and above-all commercial point of view as it crossed several Italian regions.
The Appia Antica was part of approximately 120,000 km of roadway which connected Rome’s vast empire to the Eternal City, thus perhaps being the inspiration of the famous phrase, “All roads lead to Rome”.
On hand for the ceremony were members of the Italian Cultural Heritage Ministry as well as the presidents of the regions which are graced by a road that still today is being used by tourists, cyclists and hikers alike.
The Italian National UNESCO Committee will be submitting its proposal to UNESCO hqs in Paris in the next few days.
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