Fascinating destinations from all over the world
The colonnaded street that bisects the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa (Jerash) north to south is among the best-preserved examples of a Roman road.
As with the rest of the city, the roads and streets crisscrossing Pompeii were found to be in excellent condition when excavated, having been preserved under a carpet of volcanic ash and pumice after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
In Roman times, Salamis in northern Cyprus was part of the Roman province of Cilicia. The extensive ruins include a network of roads that once served the city.
The Via Flaminia was an ancient Roman road set over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Visitors to Viterbo in Italy's Lazio region should look out for the remains of the Via Clodia, a Roman road situated between the Via Cassia and the Via Aurelia highways.
The weathered outline of the Via Traiana, which snakes through the archaeological ruins of the ancient city of Puglia. It was built by Emperor Trajan as an extension of the Via Appia.
The road leading out from the Roman settlement of Sala Colonia, located near the modern-day city of Rabat, served as a direct link to the port of Sala (now disappeared) on the Atlantic coast.
Pictured is the street known as Decumanus Maximus, set in the ruins of Volubilis, an important city in the ancient Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana.
The Via Augusta was the longest and busiest of the major roads built by the Romans in ancient Hispania. Pictured is the great Arch of Berá, located 20 km (12.5 mi) north-east of the city of Tarragona, in Catalonia.
The Roman road known today as Ermine Street ran from Londinium (London) to Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York). The route is part set under the Newport Arch in Lincoln (pictured), an old Roman arch that is reputedly the oldest to be used by traffic in the United Kingdom.
The fort and town of Coria (Corbridge) near Hadrian's Wall in northern England is where a big Roman north–south road (Dere Street) bridged the River Tyne and met another Roman road (Stanegate) to form an ancient transport hub.
The original Roman road that runs parallel to the modern-day highway known as Stane Street follows a scenic route that features the beautiful Halnaker tree tunnel, located in West Sussex.
Watling Street is another historic Roman road in England. However, the Romans were not the ones who built it. The route was already being used by ancient Britons, and was paved by the Romans after their conquest of Britannia.
The ancient town of Latium, located northwest of the modern town of Norma, was perched above a precipitous cliff and therefore required a solid network of roads in order to serve its fairly isolated population.
One of the best-preserved Roman roads in Spain is Puerto el Pico. It was used by the Roman military to transport metals from the Sierra de Gredos mountain range, and crossed the high Sierra de Gredos through the steep Puerto del Pico pass.
The first and most famous Roman road was the Via Appia ("Appian Way"). Constructed from 312 BCE and covering 196 km (121 mi), the road connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy.
The Roman road that served Leptis Magna formed part of the coastal highway from Carthage to Alexandria, via Thyna and Leptis Magna itself.
The Via Appia was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome. It is by far the most impressive and engaging Roman road in world, with many historical monuments and bridges to be admired along the route.
The well-preserved cobblestone of Via Ostiensis passes through the Rome neighborhood of Ostia. The area incorporates a major archaeological site known as Ostia Antica.
Via Julia Augusta is the name given to the Roman road formed by the merging of the Via Aemilia Scauri with the Via Postumia. Pictured is the Via Julia Augusta leading across Pont Flavien, a Roman bridge near Saint-Chamas, in southern France.
Vestiges of the Via delle Gallie near Aosta in northern Italy offer an idea of what this once important road that linked Roman Italy with Gaul must have looked like. It was constructed by digging and carving out solid rock from a near-vertical cliff face.
Pictured: the Roman bridge over the Marecchia river just outside Ariminum (modern-day Rimini), the starting point of the Via Aemilia.
The well-trodden Roman road near Sağlıklı village, in the Tarsus district of Mersin province, is now a popular walking route.
Via Egnatia was constructed in the 2nd century BCE and crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey as a continuation of the Via Appia.
The remains of the Roman Emperor Trajan's route along the Danube is marked by the Tabula Traiana, a plaque found in the Iron Gate Gorge on the Serbian coast that was erected to commemorate the defeat of the Dacian kings by the Romans in 88 CE.
Stane Street is the modern name given to an important 90 km-long (56 mi) Roman road in southern England that linked Londonium to Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester).
Timgad, a ruined Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria, is one of the best extant examples of the grid plan as used in Roman town planning. Roads like the one illustrated exemplified the city's excellent transport infrastructure.
Sources: (Ancient History) (Britannica)
See also: Must-visit Roman sites and ruins from around the world
A section of the Via Domitia uncovered in front of the Archbishop's palace in Narbonne. The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now southern France.
The network of long straight public roads built by the Romans provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, civilians, and trade goods. These roads radiated out of Rome to connect cities, major towns, and military bases in all four corners of the empire. Roads were also a very visible indicator of the power of Rome, with many featuring forts, triumphal gates and arches, and other monuments built along the way as a show of strength to anyone who traveled these cobblestone highways. Vestiges of these ancient routes still exist; a few are still in use. And walking one of these roads is to literally follow in the footsteps of history.
Pull on your sandals and head into the past by clicking through this gallery of famous Roman roads.
Where to follow Roman roads
Walking along the paths of antiquity
TRAVEL Antiquity
The network of long straight public roads built by the Romans provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, civilians, and trade goods. These roads radiated out of Rome to connect cities, major towns, and military bases in all four corners of the empire. Roads were also a very visible indicator of the power of Rome, with many featuring forts, triumphal gates and arches, and other monuments built along the way as a show of strength to anyone who traveled these cobblestone highways. Vestiges of these ancient routes still exist; a few are still in use. And walking one of these roads is to literally follow in the footsteps of history.
Pull on your sandals and head into the past by clicking through this gallery of famous Roman roads.