The Via Salaria

The ancient Roman salt road.

La Via Salaria is one of the most ancient consular roadsbuilt on several occasions by the Romans themselves, it runs from the capital to the Adriatic Sea, and is still in use today and is better known as the SS 4 road. It is in fact the road between Rome and Rieti.

The curious name goes back to the Romans' use of the road, which was mainly to transport salt collected from the ancient salt pans presumably located in the Marches.

La Salaria road starts from Aurelian Walls going out towards Salaria GateIt heads straight for Forte Antenne to cross the Aniene river and after quite a few kilometres arrive at what is now the Fidene hamlet.

Originally, the road branched between meadows and reclaimed areas, only later to be reclaimed, indeed let us say that the final reclamation took place about two centuries later. The Via Salaria leaves the outskirts of Rome and heads towards Settebagni to finally take the direction of the Tenuta Marcigliana Vecchia where there was an ancient Roman settlement better known as Crustumerium. A little further on we begin to see the first mountains; we are now at the Corese Pass in the direction of Fara Sabina.

Here the Salaria divided into two sections that were very important for ancient trade; in fact, one street at Ponte Buita continued towards via Cecilia which led to Atri - the ancient hatria - while the other trunk reached Rieti.

Before Rieti, in fact, two distinct sections can be seen, one that turns eastwards, crossing the Apennines in the direction of Sella di Corno to overlook the plain of Amiternum in the vicinity of the present day Eagle takes the Passo delle Capannelle and goes on to Teramo, or rather through the town called Pretutii.

The other trunk from Rieti goes up the river Velino for a while to the Terme di Cotilia, exploited by the Romans, or rather exploited enough by a large settlement to open a wellness centre nearby with hot sulphurous thermal waters.

Continuing on, one arrives at Antrodoco just below Monte Giano where, here too, the Romans built another spa. But the Salaria does not stop, it continues northwards following the river and crossing gorges and mountains. Here the culture and preparation of the Romans unquestionably comes to the fore. To overcome all these 'contingencies', the engineers of Augustus and Trajan outdid themselves by adopting technical solutions that still amaze us today.

Having passed the mountains, the Via Salaria continues along the plain of the Tronto Valley in the Marche region, we then come across towns that are known and important even today, such as Pescara del Tronto, Acquasanta Terme (also exploited here by the Romans as a spa centre because of its albule waters), Lettera, Posta, Favalanciata, Quintodecimo to arrive at Ascoli Piceno. Going further on, we finally meet the sea near Castrum Trentium, a locality near Porto d'Ascoli in the municipality of San Benedetto del Tronto.