The Regina Viarum route is officially a candidate to appear on the Unesco World Heritage list. At the headquarters of the National Roman Museum of Diocletian's Baths, the representatives of the Ministry of Culture together with the delegates of the numerous bodies involved - the Regions of Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Puglia, 12 Provinces and Metropolitan Cities, 73 Municipalities, 15 Parks, the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology and 25 Italian and foreign universities – have signed the memorandum of understanding for the candidacy of the site as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to be sent to Paris.
After the commitment of the Ministry to enhance and promote tourism on the Appian Way from Rome to Brindisi starting in 2016 and materialized with the recent allocation of around twenty million euros, the candidacy for World Heritage confirms the important role that the ancient road could have for the culture and economy of all southern Italy. Indeed, as the candidacy dossier highlights, the historically most important role of the Roman road, i.e. that of linking civilizations - the first axis between East and West - could still become current in its symbolic and cultural value, also for tourism in the areas inland mountains. It is no coincidence that the Via Appia was chosen among all the viae publicae romanae: it is certainly the best preserved, the layout is almost entirely identifiable with ease – both the oldest wanted by Appius Claudius and the later one by Trajan – together with the monuments that have been built over time along its route.
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