The Via Claudia Nova was an ancient

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

, built in 47 AD by the Roman emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

to connect the

Via Caecilia Via Caecilia, an ancient highroad of Italy, which diverged from the Via Salaria at the 35th mile (56 km) from Rome, and ran by Amiternum to the Adriatic coast, passing probably by Hadria (Atri). A branch ran to Interamna Praetuttiorum (Teramo) ...

with the Via Claudia Valeria in central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. There is no precise information about the road's route: according to some sources, it started from

Amiternum Amiternum was an ancient Sabine city, then Roman city and later bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see in the central Abruzzo region of modern Italy, located from L'Aquila. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust (86 BC). Histor ...

, while for others it began at Civitatomassa, currently a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' of Scoppito. It joined the Via Claudia Valeria near

Popoli Popoli is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy. History Though the site has not revealed significant Roman presence it appears in a ninth-century document as ''borgo di Pagus Fabianus''. Its name in med ...

, at the confluence of the Tirino and

Aterno The Aterno-Pescara (ancient ''Aternus'' from the Greek ''Aternos'', ''Άτερνος'') is a river system in Abruzzo, eastern central Italy. The river is known as the Aterno near its source in the mountains, but takes the name Pescara, actually a ...

rivers. It passed, among the others, through the ancient cities of

Peltuinum Peltuinum was a Roman town of the Vestini, on the ancient Via Claudia Nova, 20 km east of L'Aquila, Italy, between the modern-day settlements of Prata d'Ansidonia and Castelnuovo. It was apparently the chief town of that portion of the Ves ...

, and Ocriticum, where a temple dedicated to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

existed.

References

Sources

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Roman roads in Italy 1st-century establishments in Italy 40s establishments in the Roman Empire Claudius 47 establishments {{Italy-road-stub