About
Lazio's rugged coastline is dotted with the remains of this medieval Roman road and lookout towers.
Now that they have been swallowed by landslides and vegetation, the once-spectacular Via Flacca is nearly unnoticeable. This ancient Roman road was built by the censor Lucius Valerius Flaccus in the second century B.C. As the nearby Villa of Tiberius shows, the coastline was a popular site for the wealthy to build their seaside villas. The road also provided an alternative route to pass the rugged coastline and the Aurunci mountains, connecting Sperlonga to the ancient Via Appia. The road was an elaborate, complicated, and perilous project, which was only replaced by the present road in 1959. (The modern paved road is named after the old Via Flacca.) Not much is left of the ancient road, but a few short segments can be accessed on an abandoned trail network that connects Sperlonga with Sant’Agostino beach.
