CASSIA, VIA, an ancient high-road of Italy, leading from Rome through Etruria to Florentia (Florence). At the 11th mile the Via Clodia (see CLODIA, VIA) diverged north-north-west, while the Via Cassia ran to the east of the Lacus Sabatinus and then through the place now called Sette Vene, where a road, probably the Via Annia, branched off to Falerii (q.v.) through Sutrium (where the Via Ciminia, running along the east edge of the Lacus Ciminius, diverged from it, to rejoin it at Aquae Passeris, north of the modern Viterbo), Forum Cassii, Volsinii (novi) , Clusium and Arretium, its line being closely followed by the modern high-road from Rome to Florence. The date of its construction is, at earliest, 187 B.C., when the consul C. Flaminius constructed a road from Bononia to Arretium (which must have coincided with a portion of the later Via Cassia). Cicero speaks of the existence of three roads from Rome to Mutina (Modena), the Flaminia, the Aurelia and the Cassia. As milestones show, it was repaired partly by Trajan, partly by Hadrian. One stretch was called the Via Nova Traiana, but it was not a distinct road ( Year's work in Classical Studies, 1925-26,121).