Via Aemilia
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The ( it, Via Emilia; en, Aemilian Way) was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from ''Ariminum'' (
Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
), on the Adriatic coast, to ''Placentia'' (
Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
) on the river ''Padus'' ( Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The ''Via Aemilia'' connected at Rimini with the Via Flaminia, which had been completed 33 years earlier, to Rome.


History

The land today known as northern Italy (''Italia settentrionale'') was known to the ancient Romans during the republican period (to 44 BC) as
Gallia Cisalpina Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts (Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was con ...
(literally: Gaul on the near – i.e. southern – side of the Alps) because it was then inhabited by Celtic tribes from Gaul, who had colonised the area in the 4th and 5th centuries BC. ''Italia'' meant the area inhabited by Italic tribes: the border between ''Italia'' and ''Gallia Cisalpina'' was roughly a line between ''Pisae'' (Pisa) and ''Ariminum''. ''Gallia Cisalpina'' contained the
Pianura padana The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...
(Po river plain). This vast country, by far the largest fertile plain in the mountainous peninsula, contained potentially its best agricultural land, and offered the Romans the opportunity to expand enormously their population and economic resources by mass colonisation. The Romans subjugated the Gauls of the Pianura Padana in a series of hard-fought campaigns in the late 3rd century BC. By 220 BC, the ''Via Flaminia'' was completed, providing the Romans with ready access to the region. However, Roman expansion was delayed for some twenty years by the
Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. During the
Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...
general Hannibal's invasion of Italy (218 BC–203 BC), Roman military control of the Pianura Padana was temporarily overthrown. Many of the recently defeated tribes (such as the
Insubres The Insubres or Insubri were an ancient Celtic population settled in Insubria, in what is now the Italian region of Lombardy. They were the founders of Mediolanum (Milan). Though completely Gaulish at the time of Roman conquest, they were the r ...
and the
Boii The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul ( Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom ...
) rebelled and joined forces with Hannibal in the hope of regaining their independence. It was not until 189 BC that the rebel tribes had been pacified sufficiently to allow work on the ''Via Aemilia'' to begin. The time-tested Roman method of expansion was to build a brand new road straight through the newly conquered territory, and then establish a string of colonies, either of civilian settlers or of military veterans along its route. The settlers would be allocated fertile plots from lands confiscated from the defeated native peoples. This was the precise function of the ''Via Aemilia'': its period of construction also saw the foundation of Roman colonies along its whole length at ''Bononia'' (
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
) (founded 189 BC), ''Mutina'' (
Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
), ''Regium'' ( Reggio Emilia), and
Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
(all founded in 183 BC). The ''Via Aemilia'' was completed by, and named after, the Roman consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187 BC. It ran, largely in a straight line, 176 Roman miles (260 km) NW from Rimini to its termination at Piacenza, passing through the cities of Forlì, Faenza, Bologna, Modena, Reggio, and Parma. The road ran along the southern edge of the flat Pianura Padana within sight of the northern foothills of Italy's Apennine mountains, crossing numerous tributary rivers of the Po, notably the Rubicone near Rimini — although it is not certain that this river is the same as the famous
Rubicon The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini. It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Ca ...
crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC—and the river Trebbia near Piacenza, site of the first of Hannibal's three major victories over the Romans during his invasion of Italy. In the century following the construction of the ''Via Aemilia'', Piacenza became the key Roman road hub in the pianura padana. In 148 BC, the
Via Postumia The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aemil ...
linked Piacenza to Aquileia on the north Adriatic coast. In 109 BC, the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus completed the ''
Via Aemilia Scaura Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...
'' to ''Genua'' (Genoa) and ''Pisae'' (Pisa).


Remains

At Rimini, the starting point of the ''Via Aemilia'', the road's first bridge still exists, a massive structure spanning the
Marecchia The Marecchia () is a river in eastern Italy. In ancient times it was known as the ''Ariminus'' which was from the Greek ''Aríminos'' (, which is also the ancient name of Rimini). The source of the river is near Monte dei Frati which is east of P ...
River, started by the Emperor Augustus and completed by his successor Tiberius. It still bears its twin dedicatory inscriptions. At Bologna, milestone 78 was found in the bed of the river
Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
. It records Augustus' reconstruction of the ''Aemilia'', in 2 BC, from Rimini as far as the river Trebbia. Remains of the ''Aemilia'' bridge over the Reno were found in the 1890s, consisting of parts of the parapets from each side. These were originally 38.75 feet apart, of Veronese red marble. The bed of the river was found to have risen at least 20 feet since this bridge collapsed in the 9th century. Ruins of some of the other ancient Roman bridges still exist. At
Savignano sul Rubicone Savignano sul Rubicone ( rgn, Savgnèn) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Forlì-Cesena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and about southeast of Forlì. The comune takes its name from the Ru ...
a Roman bridge survived until it was demolished as recently as World War II. The current bridge is a reconstruction.


Legacy

The construction of the ''Via Aemilia'' launched the intensive Roman colonisation of the Pianura Padana. The vast agricultural potential of this region soon rendered it the most populous and economically important part of Italy, overshadowing Central Italy, Rome and the South. The area remains economically preeminent in modern Italy. By the time of the Second Triumvirate (44 BC-30 BC), Romanisation of this formerly Celtic country was so complete that the province of ''Gallia Cisalpina'' was abolished and its territory incorporated into the heartland province of
Italia 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 Italy (geographical region) ...
. The road gave its name to that part of ''Gallia Cisalpina'' through which it ran. This area was, before the Roman conquest, the territory of the Gallic tribes
Boii The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul ( Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom ...
(who gave their name to the city of Bologna) and
Senones The Senones or Senonii (Gaulish: "the ancient ones") were an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling in the Seine basin, around present-day Sens, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Part of the Senones settled in the Italian peninsula, where they ...
. It was already commonly referred to as ''Aemilia'' by the time the Emperor Augustus assumed sole power. In around 7 BC, when Augustus divided the ''provincia'' of Italia into 11 ''regiones'' (administrative districts), the area became the eighth ''regio''.Pliny the Elder ''Naturalis Historia'' III, p. 20 This initially had the official name of ''Padus'', but was later changed to ''Aemilia''. The western part of this area is still known as Emilia today. The boundaries of the Roman VIII regio roughly corresponded to those of the modern Italian administrative region of
Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...
. Its inhabitants are today known as ''Emiliani''. The modern Italian State Road 9 is still officially called Via Emilia and follows the Roman route over much of its length. Indeed, the modern road in many parts lies directly above the Roman road.


Bridges

There are the remains of several Roman bridges along the road, including the Ponte d’Augusto, Ponte di Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna, Ponte San Vito, Ponte sul Reno and Ponte sul Rubicone.


See also

*
Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ...
* Roman engineering


References


External links


LacusCurtius – Via Aemilia (1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Entry)

Omnes Viae: Via Aemilia on the Peutinger Map
{{List of Roman roads Aemilia, Via Transport in Emilia-Romagna 180s BC establishments 2nd-century BC establishments in Italy 2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic