Via Appia UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the 60th Italian site.

“It is a great day for the City. Benevento relives its ancient splendor as a crossroads of peoples and institutions, as a land gateway to the Mediterranean, thanks to its inscription in the list of UNESCO heritage of With Appia – Regina Viarum, which took place today in India, in New Delhi. It is the second Unesco star for Benevento”, The Mayor of Benevento Clemente Mastella and the Councilor for Culture and UNESCO Antonella Tartaglia Polcini announced it on the sidelines of the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Agency.

“The prestigious recognition of the exceptional universal value of the site, which connects Rome to Brindisi and which has always had in the capital a strategic crossroads for centuries, to branch out from here into the double stretch of the via Appia, with the variant of With Traiana, brings Benevento back to the world stage, after the inscription of the monumental complex of Santa Sofia, in the serial Unesco site "The Lombards in Italy. Places of power. 568-774 AD", which took place in June 2011. The history of the capital of Sannio intersects for the second time with the World Heritage List, the list of all the world sites which, due to their cultural or natural Outstanding Universal Value , have been recognized as a World Heritage Site, in application of the Paris Convention of 1972".

“This is the end of a challenging itinerary, which has seen the Municipality of Benevento as the protagonist, together with the other Municipalities of Sannio involved, and has increased territorial cohesion and awareness of the value of the places we live in and that we must protect and enhance without sparing any strength”, the Mayor and the Councilor continue. 

“We thank the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano for the effective, loyal and intelligent institutional collaboration and Angela Maria Ferroni who was the tireless scientific coordinator of both applications, both that of the Lombard site and this one of the With Appia".

“On Monday we will celebrate this global success with an ideal and visual journey along the eternal beauties of the Regina Viarum. At 11,00, the Cloister of Santa Sofia and the Sannio Museum will host the complete exhibition of 180 photographic images, between past and present, of the main places of the With Appia, gathered in a single symbolic embrace between the two UNESCO sites. Now working to make the most of this splendid recognition through an Association of Municipalities of the With Appia who together organize tourist-cultural initiatives: food and oenology, hiking, art and archaeology, sports and concerts: we will be able to create the Games ofAppia, Regina Viarum “, conclude Mastella and Tartaglia Polcini.

"Proud of the great recognition to the legendary Regina Viarum. It is the testimony of how our territory has a unique historical and archaeological heritage. However, not all the sites are known to tourists, for this reason we are working to enhance the alternative routes compared to the stages best known by foreign tourists. With Appia is an example of this, as is the City of Gabii or the Aqueduct Park. In this way we make Roman tourism more sustainable, which is reaching record numbers, with an estimate of over 50 million visitors in 2024He declares Honored Alexander, Councilor for Sport, Tourism, Fashion and Major Events of Rome Capital.

"The inscription of the Appian Way of LWorld Heritage ist of Unesco on the part ofthe World Heritage Committee this is great news – declared the Councillor for Culture of Rome Capital, Miguel Gotor - As Rome Capital we were among the bodies that supported this candidacy, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, precisely because we were aware of the historical and cultural value, unique in the world, of this 'linear monument' that, starting from the walls of Rome and crossing four regions, it reaches Brindisi."

"The Appian Way is a true physical symbol of the contacts and ties between the West and the East and the fact that from today it is the 60° SItalian site recognized by UNESCO it is a source of great pride for our city", He concluded.

The Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri: "The Appian Way is the 60th Italian UNESCO site. This is a truly important recognition for a historic road that represents the symbol of an entire civilization, the path that has always united Rome to the South of the peninsula and to the rest of the populations and the great Mediterranean trade, a privileged stopover to then also push towards the East. Crossing breathtaking and often uncontaminated landscapes, places of great spiritual importance, majestic catacombs and aqueducts, cities and historic locations, the Appian Way today finds its worthy place among the great wonders of the world. We all have a new opportunity but also the duty, from the Ministry that promoted the candidacy to all the territories that are now crossed by the Queen of Roads, to enhance it more, to know it, admire it and experience it better but above all to finally protect it in a manner consistent with its inestimable value.".

The Via Appia UNESCO World Heritage Site: Mesagne and Latiano celebrate with the "Night of the Appian Way"

On the occasion of the proclamation of the Appian Way as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the IMPACT cooperative together with the communities of Mesagne and Latiano, custodians of the Archaeological Park of Muro Tenente, are enthusiastic to announce the “Notte dell'Appia”, an extraordinary event scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday 28 July 2024. The evening will be a unique opportunity to reflect, plan, explore and enjoy conclusive musical entertainment.

Starting from 18.30, the event will start in Latiano with a visit to the “Biblioteca dell'Appia”, located on the corner of Via Aldo Moro and Via Salento. Afterwards, at 19.30:XNUMX pm, there will be a guided visit to the Archaeological Park of Muro Tenente. This site has recently revealed an almost intact Roman gravel road, coinciding with the route of the Via Appia as described in the Tabula Peutingeriana. Participation in this visit is free of charge, with no need for reservations.

The heart of the event will be in Mesagne, where at 20.30 pm, in the central Piazza Edistibili, the public conference entitled "Via Appia UNESCO Heritage: development prospects" will be held (organized thanks to the contribution of the General Directorate of Education, Research and Cultural Institutes of the MiC).

This important meeting will see the participation of prominent figures such as the mayors of Mesagne and Latiano, Toni Matarrelli and Mino Maiorano, respectively, together with Angela Maria Ferroni, technical-scientific manager of the UNESCO candidacy, Francesca Riccio, ABAP Superintendent for the provinces of Brindisi and Lecce, Simone Quilici, director of the Appia Antica Archaeological Park, Amedeo Ciaccheri, president of the Municipio VIII of Rome, Francesco Bandarin, former director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and Gert Burgers, director of the Muro Tenente Archaeological Park. The debate will be moderated by Gianmarco Di Napoli.

At 21.45pm, again in Piazza Edistibili, the Casa dell'Appia will be inaugurated, a small illustrated “museum” on the history of the Appian Way in the Brindisi area, set up inside the Historic Center Office of Mesagne. The evening will end at 22.15:XNUMX pm with a concert by Daria Falco and Bruno Galeone, who will offer a musical journey through the traditions of southern Italy with sound influences from the Mediterranean.

For the entire day of July 28th, free access to the Castle/Museum of Mesagne will be guaranteed. Furthermore, from 18pm to 00pm, there will be extraordinary openings and free access to the main cultural and archaeological sites of the Urban Museum System, including the Necropolis of Vico dei Cantelmo, the "Museum of Sacred Art Cavaliere-Argentiero", the Church Matrice and the Church of Sant'Anna. At 23pm and 00pm, two urban tours will be organized on archaeological itineraries with a tourist guide, available by reservation.

The Ministry of Culture and Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano

This is the first candidacy promoted directly by the Ministry of Culture, which coordinated all phases of the process and prepared all the necessary documentation for the request for inclusion in the World Heritage List. The result is the result of team work which saw the involvement of multiple institutions: 4 Regions (Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Puglia), 13 metropolitan cities and Provinces, 74 Municipalities, 14 Parks, 25 Universities, numerous community representatives territorial, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology of the Holy See.

“I express all my satisfaction and pride for the great result obtained. The 'Via Appia. Regina Viarum' is now a world heritage site. UNESCO has captured the exceptional universal value of an extraordinary engineering work which over the centuries has been essential for commercial, social and cultural exchanges with the Mediterranean and the East. Congratulations to all the institutions and communities that collaborated with the Ministry of Culture to reach this prestigious milestone. It is a recognition of the value of our history and our identity, from which valorization capable of bringing economic benefits to the territories involved can arise", declared the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano.

“The Via Appia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a great success for the Ministry of Culture, but above all for those millions of Italians who live in the territories of the Via Appia, a global symbol of the history from which we come. It adds to the extraordinary affirmation obtained less than a year ago by Italian opera and I am happy that it coincides with my mandate", commented by the Undersecretary for Culture with responsibility for UNESCO, Gianmarco Mazzi.

Background

The Appia was the first of the great roads of Rome built with innovative techniques, true masterpieces of civil engineering that joined the natural roads and which constitute the most lasting monuments of Roman civilization. The route, begun in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to connect Rome to Capua, was then extended to Benevento, Venosa, Taranto and Brindisi, a bridgehead towards Greece and the East, as the Roman conquest progressed and along the Via Appia Traiana, the variant built by the emperor Trajan in 109 AD to facilitate the route from Benevento to Brindisi.

Conceived for military needs, the Via Appia immediately became a road of great commercial communications and primary cultural transmissions and, over time, it became the model of all subsequent Roman public roads as well as, in a certain sense, the origin of the complex road system of the Empire, which is also the basis of the current communication network of the Mediterranean basin.

The creation of this road network has allowed the structuring of exchange routes also with waterways, thus allowing, over the centuries, a practically uninterrupted flow of people, ideas, civilisations, goods, religions and ideas, routes which are still alive and felt by those who still live in these territories today. The names with which the ancient authors themselves defined her, insignis, nobilis, celeberrima, regina viarum, testify to all the political, administrative, economic, social and propagandistic values ​​that earned her her millenary fortune.

On Wednesday 31 July 2024 (19.00 pm), in Rome, the celebratory event for the inscription of the site “Via Appia. Regina Viarum” in the UNESCO World Heritage List will take place, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, of the Undersecretary for Culture, Gianmarco Mazzi and of all the public and private institutions involved in the application process.