Verona Roman Streets
The history of Verona, since its origins, has been indissolubly
linked to roads. The Romans chose the place where the city would
be built because of its strategic position along the piedmont
line and the valley of the river Adige.
Verona was built where the network of roads crossing the north of
the Italian peninsula crossed.
In many parts of the city, despite the ravages of time, are
preserved remains of that incredible system of infrastructure that
characterized the Roman age and guaranteed its success.
Accompanied by Verona's tourist guides, it is possible to visit
these extraordinary finds in specific thematic
itineraries, ideal especially for school visits and
in-depth examinations of the Roman history.
Consular Routes
The most important of these communication routes was certainly
the Via Postumia. It connected the two
cities of Aquileia and Genoa,
two important ports already in Roman times, and literally crossed
Verona, becoming its decumanus maximus.
On the other hand Via Gallica connected
Mediolanum (now Milan) with Verona, passing through Brescia,
Sirmione, Peschiera, and intersecting with via via Postumia at the
height of the Gavi Arch.
Finally, Via Claudio-Augusta, along the
Adige river valley connected the Alpine pass of the Brenner with
Ostiglia in the Po Valley. From the 2nd century B.C. to the
present day Verona has thus maintained its central role as a
junction for the east-west and north-south communication routes
now represented by the motorways: Milan-Venice
and Modena-Brenner, which perfectly follow the route of the Roman
roads.
The City Grid
In addition to the roads that connected Verona with the other cities that arose with the Roman colonization, there were also the city streets. Like all Roman cities, Verona had also been built following a rigorous urban plan. This involved two main road axes, Cardus Maximus and Decumanus Maximus, which crossed perpendicularly in the city center. There stood the Forum, now Piazza delle Erbe. The rest of the city was then divided into smaller streets that, parallel and perpendicular to each other, formed a very regular grid of city blocks. Still today, looking at the aerial photographs of Verona, is quite striking the great regularity with which the historic center is divided into squares, a sign that the Roman urban layout has remained substantially unchanged.
Roman Roads and Guided Tours
One and a half meters (5 ft.) below Corso Cavour, now a busy city
road, about 700 meters (765 yd) of the original Via Postumia,
consisting of large irregular tiles of black volcanic
stone typical of Roman consular roads, have been found.
In some places are still clearly visible the typical parallel
grooves, almost like a railway, where the wheels of the Roman
carriages that came to Verona rolled.
In the city center, a couple of meters below the current street
level, it is possible to admire the beautiful Valpolicella stone
paving that characterized the city streets of Verona
two thousand years ago. In some places it is also
possible to see the construction structure of
the Roman roads, with the underlying sewers,
brick channels with barrel vaults. A great learning opportunity
for school groups on a school trip to Verona. Some of these
ancient sewers have shown exceptional resistance, remaining in use
for almost two thousand years, until the early decades of the
'900.
For any information, booking or details, write to the authorized tourist guides and define the itineraries to visit Verona and its ancient Roman remains.