Via Traiana
Beneventum to Brundisium
The route
The road left Beneventum and crossed the Calore by the Ponte Valentino, then climbed north-east into the Apennines. Ruined bridges mark the ascent; the Ponte delle Chianche near Buonalbergo is the best known. It passed Aequum Tuticum, at Sant'Eleuterio near Ariano Irpino, and crossed the watershed close to the San Vito pass, some 947 metres up.
It came down to Aecae at Troia, on the edge of the Tavoliere, and ran east across the plain to Herdoniae near Ordona, crossing the Cervaro by a long bridge whose remains survive at Ponte Rotto. From there it crossed the Ofanto to Canusium at Canosa di Puglia.
Beyond Canosa it turned towards the sea through Butuntum at Bitonto. The survey then runs south-east to Egnatia near Fasano, a walled port town where the road reached the coast. It then follows the shore past Ad Speluncas, a road station whose name means 'at the caves', to Brundisium. Ancient sources also record a coastal variant through Barium at Bari, which the survey does not draw.
The surveyed line
- Mapped length
- 290 km
- Mapped segments
- 12
- Line certainty
- Conjectured
Measured across every Itiner-e segment attributed to this road. A conjectured stretch is one whose course is inferred from evidence either side of it; that covers 100% of the mapped length here. This describes how precisely the line is known, not whether the road existed.
The road today
No single modern road follows the Via Traiana. Its mountain section fell out of use in the eighteenth century, replaced by the Bourbon highway known as the Via regia delle Puglie, the ancestor of today's SS90 from Benevento towards Foggia. The SS90 shares the Roman road's general direction through the Apennines but seldom its exact course.
On the plain, minor roads and farm tracks pick up stretches of the line between Troia, Ordona and Canosa, though few are signposted as Roman. Towards the end, the coastal dual carriageway between Fasano and Brindisi runs roughly parallel to the last leg, close to but not on the ancient alignment.
Where to see it
Egnazia, near Fasano, is the best place to stand on the road. The Museo e Parco Archeologico di Egnazia keeps the excavated town behind its walls; the paved Via Traiana runs through the middle of it. At Herdonia, outside Ordona, Belgian excavations begun in 1962 uncovered a forum, a basilica, a circular market and baths set along the road, where wheel ruts are still visible in the stones.
At Benevento the Arch of Trajan, 15.6 metres high and built between 114 and 117, stands near the start of the road; one of the panels inside the passage shows the emperor sacrificing at its opening. Milestones survive at Bari, Trani and Ascoli Satriano. Another, marked LXXXI, 81 Roman miles, stands on a street corner in Cerignola.
Common questions
Who built the Via Traiana?
The emperor Trajan, around 109. His milestones name the road from Benevento to Brindisi and state that he built it with his own money.
How long is the Via Traiana?
Roughly 300 km from Benevento to Brindisi. The line on this site's map measures about 294 km; ancient itinerary distances make it slightly longer than the Via Appia between the same two cities.
What is the difference between the Via Appia and the Via Traiana?
Both linked Benevento to Brindisi. The older Via Appia ran inland through Venosa and Taranto, over steep Apennine country; the Via Traiana took a northern line through Canosa to the Adriatic coast, with far fewer climbs, which made it the quicker journey despite a similar length.