Via Aurelia

The Via Aurelia (Aurelian Way) was a Roman road in Italy constructed in approximately the year 241 BCE. The project was undertaken by C. Aurelius Cotta, who at that time was censor. Cotta had a history of building roads for Rome, as he had overseen the construction of a military road in Sicily (as consul in 252 BCE, during the First Punic War) connecting Agrigentum (modern Agrigento) and Panormus (modern Palermo).

In the middle Republic, a series of roads were built throughout Italy to serve the needs of Roman expansion, including swift army movements and reasonably quick communication with Roman colonies spread throughout Italy. There also was the unintended (but beneficial) consequence of an increase in trade among Italian cities and with Rome. The roads were standardized to 15 feet (4.6 m) wide allowing two chariots to pass, and distance was marked with milestones. The Via Aurelia was constructed as a part of this road construction campaign, which began in 312 BCE with the building of the Via Appia. Other roads included in this construction period were the Viae Amerina (c. 241 BCE), Flaminina, Clodia, Aemilia, Cassia, Valeria (c. 307 BCE), and Caecilia (c. 283 BCE).

The Via Aurelia crossed the Tiber River by way of the bridge Pons Aemilius, then exited Rome from its western side. After the Emperor Aurelian built a wall around Rome (c. 270–273 CE), the Via Aurelia exited from the Porta Aurelia (gates). The road then ran about 25 miles (40 km) to Alsium on the Tyrrhenian coast, north along the coast to Vada Volaterrana, Cosa, and Pisae (modern Pisa). There the original length of the Via Aurelia terminated. This was an especially important route during the early and middle Republic because it linked Rome, Cosa, and Pisae. Cosa was an important colony and military outpost in Etruria, and Pisae was the only port between Genua and Rome. Consequently, it was an important naval base for the Romans in their wars against the Ligurians, Gauls and Carthaginians.

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