Highway Tomb Robbery

The ancient Roman tomb of Cecilia Metella on Rome's Via Appia Antica

Past the catacombs of the Ancient Appian Way, on the left side of the road at the top of a hillock, rises the Tomb of Ceclia Metella. This best of the Via Appia tombs is the resting place to the daughter-in-law of Crassus, a 1st-century BC land mogul and Julius Caesar's financier.

The tomb was preserved in the early 14th century when Dante's nemesis Pope Boniface VIII donated it to his powerful family. They turned it into the base of a massive fortress (which explains the crennelations atop the tomb), used to guard the road and exact tolls.

Rather than pay, Romans developed the Via Appia Nuova to the east, leaving this stretch of ancient road little trafficked and little developed—in effect preserving much of it until scientific archaeology and popular Romantic interest in the ancient world came along in the 19th century to restore what was left.

Via Appia Antica 161
tel. +39-06-780-2465 or +39-06-3996-7700
Closed (in summer) Sun-Mon after 1pm

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