Sunny but getting cloudy in afternoon. Today, it’s the country side: Via Appia Antica (South of Rome)!
Met with SIAE colleague and wife (Paolo and Ria) at their place (Via Lucio Sestio) to bike Via Appia Antica; latter goes back to 312 BC! First 90 km laid by Appius Claudius Caecus; eventually (190BC) went all the way to the Adriatic (Brindisi, some 540km away)! Came through the Park of Seven Aqueducts - visited a few remnants (several: higher one going back to 1st century; other, parallel, built and still running, in Middle Ages, on antique foundations). Fascinating! Water comes from mountains some 90 km away, first underground then by aqueduct to Rome for last 15kms. More water per capita in the antiquity than now! Once on Via Appia Antica, biked up first to the entrance (back door) of the Baths of Caracalla, then down to the restaurant.
Lunch at Archeologia (see separate blog entry) along Via Appia
No time to visit nearby churches or catacombs! Biked back to their place for one hour or so through the country side (“campagna”)where a flock of sheep were grazing…Subway back to the hotel.
We topped it off, for diner around 9pm, with a selection of meat cuts and cheeses, and a glass of red wine (cesanese grapes) from Lazio at Cul de Sac (they don’t take reservations, but have your hotel call – you will get a number so that the wait outside is not to long!), and a last coffee at nearby Sant’Eustachio caffé, on the way back to the hotel (via Trevi Fountain once more) under the rain…
Rome, January 2, 2013
