Aemilia Via or Aemilian Way I

AEMILIA VIA or AEMILIAN WAY. (I) A high road of Italy, constructed in 187 B.C. by the consul M. Aemilius Lepidus, whence its name ; it ran from Ariminum to Placentia, a distance of 176m. almost straight N.W., with the plain of the Po (Padus) on the right, and the Apennines on the left. The 79th milestone from Ariminum found in the bed of the Rhenus at Bononia records the restoration of the road by Augustus from Ariminum to the river Trebia in 2 B.C. The bridge by which it crossed the Sillaro was restored by Trajan in A.D. Ioo. The modern high road follows the ancient line, and has some original and some fine modern bridges. After Augustus, the road gave its name to the eighth region of Italy.

(2)

A road constructed in 109 B.C. by the censor, M. Aemilius Scaurus, from Vada Volaterrana and Luna to Vada Sabatia and thence over the Apennines to Dertona (Tortona), where it joined the Via Postumia from Genua (Genoa) to Cremona. We must, however, suppose that a coast road from Vada Vola terrana to Genua at least existed before the Via Postumia was built in 148 B.C. According to Polybius the Romans had in his time built the coast road from the Rhone to Carthago Nova ; and it is incredible that the coast road in Italy itself should not have been constructed previously.