L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS I f t h e A p p i a i s t h e R o m a n r o a d t h a t people tend to imag- ine first, all grandeur a n d m e m o r y a n d textbook authority, the Via Salaria belongs to a differ- ent register altogether. Less- er known, yet appealing, if you think it's just a lesser version of its more popular sister, you'd be mistaken. The Via Salaria is a pleasant surprise, one that needs to be discovered slowly, mile after mile, village after vil- lage. If you take the time, y o u ' l l r e a l i z e t h i s r o a d brings you to another idea of I t a l y e n t i r e l y , o n e t i e d t o movement, geography, and a slow accumulation of places that reveal themselves one after another. Even its name points in that direction: Via Salaria t r a n s l a t e s a s t h e S a l t Route, and it was conceived as the way along which salt f r o m O s t i a w a s c a r r i e d i n l a n d ; i t s o r i g i n a l u s e i s important because it gives the road a practical, almost muscular identity from the start: its aim wasn't that of flattering the greatness of the Empire but to, very pro- saically, to ensure salt was available everywhere. T h i s o l d e r p u r p o s e c a n still be seen in the way the route develops: this is not a road that gives you one kind of beauty, it changes register constantly, moving from the majesty of Rome to the tran- q u i l p r o v i n c i a l b e a u t y o f R i e t i , C i t t a d u c a l e , Antrodoco, all the way to the earthquake-scarred territo- ries of Accumoli and Ama- trice. And then it enters Le Marche through Arquata del Tronto, Acquasanta Terme, Ascoli Piceno, Offida, and f i n a l l y S a n B e n e d e t t o d e l Tronto. It is this variety of landscapes and cultures that m a k e s t h e V i a S a l a r i a s o interesting: it's a continuous change of mood and aesthet- ics. This, in a way, is the first real argument for writing about the Salaria at all. The Appia has an iconic quality that almost risks making it static in the imagination: you think of ruins, pines, tombs, and that unmistak- able Roman weight. The Via Salaria, by contrast, feels more like a passage through living territory, the kind of r o a d t h a t l e t s y o u u n d e r - stand how Italy was stitched together not only by power but by trade, food, transhu- mance, work, and necessity. In a recent online article, travel blog TheWom explic- itly frames it as a slow-trav- el route, one that crosses "landscapes always chang- ing," from hills and valleys t o o l d r o a d s a n d s m a l l towns full of character, a sense of variety that perfect- l y e m b o d i e d b y h o w i t unfolds through hilly land- s c a p e s , a n c i e n t v i l l a g e s , s m a l l t o w n s , m o u n t a i n s c e n e r y , s t r e a m s , w o o d s , and rocky stretches. Rieti is a good example of the road's particular kind of richness, because it would be easy to overlook if one were searching only for the usual big-name circuit. Yet, this is not only a very pleas- ant town, but the Umbilicus Italiae, the geographic cen- ter of Italy, with its cathe- dral crypt preserving a mile- stone of the Via Salaria and its underground route still holding the remains of the Roman viaduct built for the ancient road. In Rieti, the Salaria brings road history, u r b a n h i s t o r y , a n d l o c a l identity into the same space. Further on, the landscape hardens and opens at the same time. Antrodoco and t h e G o l e d e l V e l i n o a r e w h e r e t h e r o a d b e g i n s t o show how much of its beau- t y d e p e n d s o n l a n d s c a p e r a t h e r t h a n m o n u m e n t s , and how ancient infrastruc- ture still makes more sense w h e n y o u s e e t h e s o r t o f country it had to cross. In this stretch of the road, we can still see the remains of the Roman road engineer- ing, while its inland routes speak of mountain scenarios of astonishing impact, with streams running alongside the roads and green woods a l t e r n a t i n g w i t h r o c k y scenery. That is very close, in fact, to the experience the Salaria seems to offer at its best: not a single postcard i m a g e b u t a s e q u e n c e o f hard, shifting landscapes in w h i c h t h e h u m a n r o u t e b e c o m e s m o r e l e g i b l e because the land around it is so powerful. But the Via Salaria is not only old and scenic, it also passes through places where the recent past left visible w o u n d s ; w e m e n t i o n e d Accumoli and Amatrice, two places that remind us this is not a museum road, but a route crossing communities marked by the 2016 earth- quake and by the slower, m o r e d i f f i c u l t w o r k o f reconstruction. The road is ancient, yes, but it is also a w a y t h r o u g h p r e s e n t - d a y I t a l y , t h r o u g h t e r r i t o r i e s w h e r e r e s i l i e n c e i s n o t a metaphor and where travel, i f d o n e t h o u g h t f u l l y , c a n still enrich the visitor and support the locals. B y t h e t i m e t h e r o a d r e a c h e s t h e M a r c h e , i t changed character again. A r q u a t a d e l T r o n t o a n d Acquasanta Terme, known since antiquity for its sul- furous waters, already sug- gest that the Salaria is mov- ing toward another cultural and physical zone; and then comes Ascoli Piceno, which is hardly a minor stop in anyone's hierarchy of Italian beauty. A city of travertine, towers, piazzas, and one of the most refined urban cen- ters in central Italy, Ascoli c h a n g e s t h e s c a l e o f t h e route but doesn't break its strong sense of continuity. It is one more reason the S a l a r i a d e s e r v e s a b e t t e r reputation: it does not lead merely to pretty villages or mountain vistas, but to a major historic city and then, beyond that, to the Adriatic coast itself. That Adriatic ending is important because it completes the logic that began with salt. Truth is that the old con- nective function of the road h a s n e v e r e n t i r e l y d i s a p - peared. It still shapes terri- tory, still organizes move- ment, still links coast and i n t e r i o r i n w a y s t h a t f e e l older than tourism but also more revealing than it. That, finally, may be the best reason to write about the Via Salaria now. It does not need to compete with t h e A p p i a o n t h e A p p i a ' s terms; the Salaria is worth following precisely because it suggests another map of I t a l y , o n e i n w h i c h t r a d e w a s a s i m p o r t a n t a s t r i - umph, small towns matter as much as famous ruins, a n d b e a u t y c o m e s n o t i n o n e o v e r w h e l m i n g s t a t e - ment but in a chain of land- scapes, histories, and inhab- i t e d p l a c e s t h a t k e e p altering the road's meaning as you travel along. Some r o a d s a r e c e l e b r a t e d because they symbolize the past, but the Salaria is dif- ferent, because it is still a l i v i n g w a y t h r o u g h t h e country itself. The Via Salaria, and the Italy you see only by crossing it GIULIA FRANCESCHINI The Via Salaria, as its name testifies, was built to connect Rome to the Adriatic Sea and to transport its salt to the capi- tal (Image generated using Adobe Illustrator AI)

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