CASSIAN WAY

VIA CASSIA
Via Cassia

The origins are uncertain as rather uncertain is the identification of the public figure (curator or consul) who gave it its name
The two most likely “Cassius Longinus” may be the Cassius Longinus censor on 154 BC or the Cassius Longinus consul on 127 BC, the first one being more plausible than the other
The road used to link and connect various pre-existing Etruscan paths
Leaving the Fontinalis Gate of the Servian Walls, the first part, the Via Lata, was common with the Via Flaminia. The two roads parted after the Milvian Bridge
The Via Cassia separated from the Via Clodia at the ninth mile, where currently La Storta area is

Towards the tenth kilometer, in an area which is within the city today, there is the so-called Tomb of Nero, which also gives its name to the area, despite the sarcophagus roadside actually contains the remains of Publius Vibius Marianus prefect of the third Gallic legion
At the end of the second century BC it was extended to Florentia (now Florence) and then up to Luni through Pistoia and Lucca

Trajan (98/117) had a new stretch of the road built between Orvieto and Chiusi, which was known as VIA TRAIANA NOVA
After the year 774, the year of the defeat of the Lombards by the Franks, most of the road was used by pilgrims traveling between France and Rome and that’s when it took the name of VIA FRANCIGENA, the most important European street in the Middle Ages