Via Prenestina Antica

Latitude:  41°52'1.54"N
Longitude:  12°48'16.68"E
elev 601 ft.

Map of the Ancient Via Prenestina. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voieprenestine_planlatium.jpg

The Via Prenestina Antica (Praenestina) leaves Rome at the Porta Maggiore and runs east to the city of Palestrina.  My initial interest in this excursion was inspired by a tip that led me to a photograph of the Tagliata di Santa Maria Cavamonte, which inadvertently lead me to a profound section of the Prenestina Antica.  After spending several hours investigating the Tagliata di Santa Maria Cavamonte and the Ponte Amato (see posts) I headed back to the Prenestina Nuova hoping that I could catch a bus back to Rome.  I arrived back at the intersection above thinking I had a little time to follow a road that lead into the countryside.

This appeared to be a fairly new, paved, rural road.  The Umbrella Pines in the distance seemed interesting, not to mention that they were on a hill that would offer me a view of the landscape.

As I rounded the first corner, I came across a fountain or water hole of sorts.  For me graffiti is never a good sign, though the fountain looked well used and in the Roman tradition I'm sure provided fresh, drinkable water.

Unfortunately, directly next to the water supply was a pretty unpleasant pile of garbage.

This had me thinking that this would have been a pretty good place to turn around.  I turned 180 degrees and spotted someone's effort to clean graffiti off a sign.

The sign identified the Prenestina Antica. I had heard that the Ancient Prenestina paralleled the Prenestina Nuova, but didn't expect to come across it.  I looked down at the pavement where I was standing and discovered what I thought were Roman pavers beneath a layer of asphalt.

Seeing the wear marks from the chariots and wagons was an encouraging sign. So, I headed in the direction of Rome hoping to find more.

As I continued I found areas of asphalt had washed away and more pavers were exposed.  To my left, or to the south, were farms, sheds and a few houses. To my right were gated driveways and modest homes.

The farther I traveled the better the preservation of the Roman pavers became.

I eventually walked at least 2 kilometers on a section of the smoothest, best preserved Roman Road I had seen. Not to mention, the road is still currently used by modern vehicles and clearly had not been in need of restoration. All the ruts were in perfect position, heading back to Rome (unlike the atrocious job that was done restoring the Via Sacra adjacent the Colosseum).

I came across a few fairly large dogs looking for some entertainment.

I could hear the cars on the Prenestina Nuova, and knew I was getting close to where the ancient road met the new one.  The asphalt was becoming more abundant to the point where I eventually could only see random pavers.

The picture below shows the pavers turning under, becoming buried by the new road.  In some way this was a beautiful juxtaposition that struck at the core of what I was searching for.

Directions

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