- Via Claudia Augusta
The Via Claudia Augusta was an ancient
Roman road , which linked the valley of thePo River withRhaetia (modern Austria) across theAlps .In 15 BC, the Roman general
Nero Claudius Drusus , the adopted son of Augustus, decided to improve the passage through the Alps for military maneuvers to controlRhaetia andNoricum [Noricum is modern Austria.] . The project of converting a pack-animal trail to serve wheeled vehicles was completed sixty years later in 46-47 AD by the son of Drusus, the EmperorClaudius . People and goods could pass between the Adriatic and the broad valley of the Po to Tridentum (modern Trento), then northward following theAdige River up to Pons Drusi, the "bridge of Drusus" which developed intoBolzano . Thence it continued towards Maia (nearMerano ), and over theResia Pass . From the pass it descended through the valleys of theInn River and the Lech, just beyond Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), ending in a town on the Danube near the present-dayDonauwörth ; the "limes " of theDanube formed the Roman empire's northern and northeastern frontier.Two milestones have been found, one in Rablà/Rabland near
Merano in theprovince of Bolzano-Bozen and the other inCesiomaggiore (nearBelluno ). Both are inscribed with the far terminus of the Via Claudia Augusta,Augusta Vindelicorum (modern Augsburg). The milestones indicate that two routes joined at Tridentium before crossing the Alpine pass: one found its starting point at the "vicus " ofOstiglia , near the Po, the other, its site less securely identified by archaeologists and historians, at the Adriatic port ofAltinum , (near theVenetian Lagoon ). On its way to Tridentium, that route crossed theVia Annia , which linked Adria toAquileia , the Via Popilia, which linked Altinum with Rimini, theVia Aurelia , betweenPadua andFeltre passing throughAsolo , and theVia Postumia , the road linking Genoa and Aquileia. The road that was initiated by Drusus as a military artery of conquest and defence, Emperor Claudius continued to develop as a cultural and commercial artery, with permanently populated posting stations where fresh horses would be available. Some grew into considerable settlements and were fortified during the later Empire. Others can be identified only by the findings of archaeologists. In the 2nd century AD, a second Alpine pass was opened to wheeled traffic, theBrenner Pass . In the 1990s, increased interest in long-distance hiking and cycling made the German and Austrian stretches of the Via Claudia Augusta popular among tourists, with the result that modern signage ("illustration") identifies the revitalised track.Notes
External links
* [http://www.via-claudia.info/en/a-bit-of-history/ Via Claudia Augusta - Historical Notes]
* [http://www.kaluwi.de/Roemerstrassen.html Via Claudia Augusta photographs] (German)
* [http://www.viaclaudia.de Via Claudia Augusta in Bavaria] (German)
* [http://www.viaclaudia.at Via Claudia Augusta in Tirol] (German)
* [http://www.roemerstrasse-via-claudia.de Photographic Documentation of the Via Claudia Augusta between Königsbrunn and Epfach]
* [http://www.via-claudia.hages-jahreszeiten.de Photos and Route Description for Cyclists] (German)
* [http://www.geschichte-tirol.com/zum-thema/transit-durch-tirol-im-mittelalter/die-via-claudia-augusta-516.html Via Claudia Augusta]
* [http://www.mountainbiker.it/mountainbike/touren/suche/mountainbiketouren_volltextsuche.php?we_objectID=99&pid=0 Via Claudia Augusta South Tirol]
* [http://homes.tiscover.com/project/viaclaudia/f_homepage...2.html Via Claudia Augusta: Map]
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