Appian Way Aqueducts Bike Tour (Catacombs & Lunch Option)

An imposing southern gateway to the city of Rome. The Porta di San Sebastiano, part of the Aurelian Walls built around 275 AD, also marks the beginning of the historic Via Appia Antica. Be enchanted by its beauty and discover the numerous medieval graffiti that testify to the flow of pilgrims over the centuries.

Visit to the official funerary complex of the Church of Rome. The largest underground cemetery in the city with corridors that reach a length of about 20km. The catacombs of St. Callixtus, a sacred place dating back to the second century BC, take their name from the deacon Callixtus I. More than 50 martyrs and 16 popes and half a million Christians were buried here.

Also known by the Romans as Regina Viarum (the queen of roads), it is considered the greatest civil engineering work of the ancient world. You will be fascinated by the history of the Via Appia Antica. A story that began in the 4th century BC thanks to the censor Appius Claudius, known as the Blind, who had it built with the aim of facilitating the flow of Roman troops towards the south. The initial stretch from Rome to Capua was extended in the following centuries until it reached Brindisi, the most important port of Ancient Rome.

The Caffarella Park, today an integral part of the Appia Antica Regional Park, is one of the largest green areas not only in Rome but also in Europe. It is a treasure rich in history hidden among its paths and groves where you can see the remains of ancient buildings.

Let yourself be enchanted by this sacred place that tells the love story between the Nymph Egeria and the second King of Rome Numa Pompilius, where Egeria, learning of the death of her beloved, burst into tears from grief, giving life to a spring.

This majestic mausoleum is a pagan tomb dedicated to Cecilia Metella, dating back to the 1st century BC. Incorporated into the Castrum Caetani, it remains the best preserved mausoleum on the Via Appia Antica. Here you can also appreciate the remains of the medieval house of the wealthy Caetani family and the church of San Nicola of which only the perimeter walls remain standing.

THIS STOP IS INCLUDED ONLY IN THE 5-HOUR TOUR. In the shadow of the Claudio aqueduct, a stop for lunch is planned. You will be able to taste Italian specialties in the restaurant. In the afternoon, there will be a tasty aperitif

We resume the e-bike tour along this immense green area crossed in ancient times and still visible today, from the Via Latina, the oldest road in Rome. Crossroads of the water network of Ancient Rome, here it is possible to admire the grandeur of Roman engineering through the remains of some aqueducts in some places well preserved, and surprisingly some still in operation.

Located on the Via Appia Antica, the Circus of Maxentius represents the best example of a Roman circus that has survived to this day. Let yourself be transported into the past surrounded by the remains of ancient Rome. The spina, still visible, housed the Agonale obelisk, moved during the Renaissance to the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona.

Built by the emperor of the same name, the Baths of Caracalla were for about a century the largest public baths ever built, and today most of their structure is preserved. A branch of the Aqua Marcia brought water to the baths through the Antoninian aqueduct. Small remains can be admired at the Porta di San Sebastiano.