L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano T u t t e l e s t r a d e p o r t a n o a R o m a , " A l l r o a d s l e a d t o R o m e , " i s a famous saying based on his- torical and archaeological f a c t s : w h e n o u r g l o r i o u s ancestors built roads across their Empire, they all con- v e r g e d o n o n e p o i n t , t h e Eternal City. Via Cassia, Via Aurelia, V i a S a l a r i a , V i a A p p i a , these are only some of the names of the many routes the Romans created across the peninsula and Europe: w e l e a r n a b o u t t h e m i n school, and many of us still travel on them daily, either t o a v o i d g e t t i n g j a m m e d into traffic on the motorway or, if we have some time to spare, to enjoy the beauty of t h e l a n d s c a p e t h e y r u n t h r o u g h - I ' m l o o k i n g a t you, Via Aurelia on the Lig- urian coast. I n I t a l y , t h e s e a n c i e n t R o m a n r o a d s a r e w e l l - k n o w n b e c a u s e s o m e a r e still in use, especially along o u r c o a s t a l r e g i o n s a n d around the capital. Impor- tantly, we shouldn't forget the same system was even- t u a l l y p u t i n t o p l a c e t h r o u g h o u t t h e e m p i r e , which means that, at some s t a g e i n a n c i e n t h i s t o r y , R o m a n - b u i l t r o a d s w e r e running across the whole of Europe. The Romans had created t h e i r v i a e p r i n c i p a l l y f o r military reasons, to facil- itate the movement of their army from one corner to the other of their vast empire and, of course, to improve c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d commerce, as we have all learned in school. However, recent research shows that t h e r e i s m o r e t o t h e s e a n c i e n t r o a d s t h a n w h a t they used to be: they may h a v e b e e n a f f e c t i n g t h e e c o n o m y a n d w e a l t h o f Europe for millennia. A n i n t e r n a t i o n a l t e a m f r o m u n i v e r s i t i e s a n d research institutions in Eng- land, Denmark and Sweden superimposed the old maps of Roman roads to today's geo-economic maps of the Old Continent and found out their presence remains s y n o n y m o u s w i t h w e a l t h and economic development. The study has been pub- lished in the latest issue of the Journal of Compara- tive Economics and its findings have been divulged t o t h e w i d e r p u b l i c b y David Nield in an article f o r S c i e n c e A l e r t . T h e analysis conducted by Dal- gaard et al. shows that the areas served by the ancient R o m a n r o a d n e t w o r k a r e a m o n g t h e w e a l t h i e s t i n Europe, a sign they helped c r e a t e , t h r o u g h t h e c e n - turies, a system of commu- nication and trade which supported the development of a stronger economy. U n i v e r s i t y o f G o t h e n - burg's Ola Olsson, one of the researchers involved in the original study, explained to Science Direct that, of c o u r s e , t h e s e r o a d s d i d change in time, as they were adapted to the necessities of t h e c o m m u n i t i e s t h e y s e r v e d a n d m o d i f i e d t h r o u g h t h e c e n t u r i e s t o e n s u r e m a j o r c i t i e s w e r e connected. Still, she contin- u e s , t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m o d e r n w e a l t h , economic development and t h e p r e s e n c e o f R o m a n roads is striking, even in those regions where they are no longer in use nor vis- i b l e t o t h e n a k e d e y e , b e c a u s e e v e n t u a l l y b u i l t u p o n i n l a t e r c e n t u r i e s . I n d e e d , t h e l i n k b e t w e e n ancient Roman routes and w e a l t h i s n ' t e x c l u s i v e l y related to those we can still t r a v e l t o d a y , b u t a l s o t o t h o s e w h i c h a r e j u s t a n archeological memory. T h e f i r s t R o m a n r o a d s date back to the 2nd century B C a n d w e r e b u i l t , a s w e said, to facilitate the move- ment of troops. By the time t h e e m p i r e r e a c h e d i t s apogee, in the 2nd century A D , t h e r e w e r e s o m e 50,000 miles of roads run- n i n g t h r o u g h i t , f r o m Europe to North Africa and the Middle East. S o , h o w d i d t h e t e a m d e v e l o p t h i s i n t e r e s t i n g study? They superimposed m a p s o f a n c i e n t R o m a n roads to satellite images of today's Europe, associating night-time light intensity w i t h h i g h e c o n o m i c a n d social activity. Then, they divided the images into a detailed grid to ensure an i n - d e p t h a n a l y s i s o f t h e emerging pattern: results were incredible. Olsson said t o S c i e n c e A l e r t t h a t t h e s t u d y h i g h l i g h t e d a "remarkable pattern of per- sistence" between the pres- e n c e o f o l d R o m a n r o a d s and contemporary economic activity, even in the areas w h e r e t h e f o r m e r a r e n o longer existing. Of course, O l s s o n c o n t i n u e s , s o m e q u e s t i o n s n e e d t o b e answered: for instance, it s t i l l i s n ' t c l e a r w h e t h e r roads were build to connect already economically-devel- oped areas, or if they direct- ly contributed to their cre- ation. H o w e v e r , O l s s o n s a y s that the key role of Roman roads in the growth of eco- nomic prosperity in Europe remains undisputed. In the end, she explains, most of the roads disappeared and centuries of wars, and polit- ical and economic changes offered plenty of opportuni- ties to modify or reorganize routes, if deemed necessary. B u t i t n e v e r h a p p e n e d , p r o b a b l y b e c a u s e o f t h e continued economic rele- vance through the centuries of the areas they touched. What we can gather from O l s s o n ' s w o r d s a n d t h e r e s e a r c h s h e c a r r i e d o u t with her colleagues is that t h e c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n ancient Roman roads and economic and social devel- opment does, indeed, exists. And while further studies s h o u l d b e c a r r i e d o u t t o explore the matter in more depth, it is interesting to put in context what the team found already: whether the Romans built their roads to connect areas they consid- ered "rich" and "with poten- tial," or economic wealth and development came as a consequence of their pres- ence, the importance of our ancestors for the growth of Europe remains uncontest- ed. It's right to say, then, that the Romans aren't only at the heart of what Europe is c u l t u r a l l y , b u t a l s o o f i t s e c o n o m i c e x p a n s i o n a n d wealth. LUCA SIGNORINI Sunlight illuminates a paved Roman road (Photo: Tonyjburns/Dreamstime) All roads led to Rome … and made you rich: Roman roads and the geography of wealth HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE

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