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Via Appia is a hidden bicycle touring treasure. It’s easy enough for beginner cyclists to handle, and exotic enough to prove a high adventure for advanced cyclists.

We’ll be going there next spring, and you can go to the Touring Italy by Bicycle category to find out more.

Many sections of the original ancient Roman Appian Way, or via Appia in Italian, are still intact. The first 10 miles or so are an archeological park that starts at the very gates of ancient Rome, near the Colosseum.

After that, long sections sit unnoticed amid green fields and wildflowers. Sometimes a modern road slips by just a few yards away, but most motorists are going to fast to look closely at the flowers. That is why we ride.

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In some places, the Via Appia was built so well that modern engineers have paved over it. Major highways follow the course of Via Appia, giving you easy access to fallen pillars, old ruins, charming hill towns and castles. Driving lets you cover more ground, but you miss a lot of detail and you’re isolated from a lot of the sites and sounds, not to mention the people. That is why we ride.

This is an important, often neglected, piece of Western history. Via Appia was the main artery from Rome to Brindisi, the port that gave the Romans access to the Southern and Eastern edges of the Empire.

Augustus followed this route when he pursued Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Many of the indigenous tribes of the Italian peninsula made their last stands against the Romans along this corridor. Murderers and bandits did their most evil deeds on this highway. Poets and philosophers found inspiration and adventure here. Soldiers and gladiators marched to victory and doom on the Via Appia.

The ancient Romans followed the Via Appia on foot, or at best with the help of mules or horses. I want to experience this as they did. Important leaders built their monuments and tombs here. The rich lined the Via Appia with their villas. This place deserves to be remembered, honored, or at least understood. It is the key to so many other things. That is why we’re following the Via Appia on a bike.

If you want to come along, leave a comment or send an email to jacob “at” BicycleFreedom.com

If you want more information, look at the other posts in the category “touring Italy by bicycle” or ask your question as a comment. You can also find out more on this page.

In this picture I’m with the beautiful Cristina Ottaviani in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. (Sorry guys, she’s taken. And not by me).

This was at the end of a 2-week ride tracing via Appia, the Appian Way, ancient Rome’s highway that crossed half the length of Italy from Rome to Brindisi.

I can’t even tell you how much fun it was, the amazing food I ate, all the times I followed muddy trails through the forest to find old Roman ruins, the wonderful people I met, the food, the wildflowers sparkling on the meadows, lots of great food, all the things I learned about people and history and human nature, and all the amazing food, especially gelato.

Nothing beats Italy cycling tours. And did I mention the food?

Anyway, I’m not saying all this to make you jealous, but hopefully to inspire you to be part of a much bigger adventure.

One of my dreams was to bicycle around the entire Mediterranean on a bicycle before I turn 40. I’ve still got a couple years, but now I’m probably going to postpone the trip to take advantage of some new business opportunities, and wait for (hopefully) the current wave of violence in the Levant to blow over.

But in the meantime, I’m bicycling across Italy again in the spring of 2008. If you’ve ever thought about taking a bicycling tour of southern Italy, this is going to be a blast! I’ll be posting more information as the date gets closer, or you can leave a comment and I’ll email you if you just can’t wait to hear more.

As far as the Mediterranean bike tour, we’ve got a few more years to plan, organize, get in shape, and above all dream.

I say “we” because if you’re actually reading this blog you may have some interest in coming along. Either for the whole ride or any part of it that fits your dreams and your calendar. Leave a comment if you want to ride.

Any takers?