On our trip to Rome we made sure to visit the Appian Way, the most important road in the ancient Roman republic and empire. In those times the Appian Way connected the Roman Forum to Brundisium, but on our trip we only biked about 10km out from the city walls.
We rented bikes from EcoBike at Centro Servizi Appia Antica, and if you book online you can get mountain bikes which is ideal for the Appian Way. Onsite rentals usually got city bikes, and I can imagine how rough those can be on the dirt and cobblestones. Helmets are required for children but are optional for adults. Water sources are available along the road, and the road is mostly flat.
The instructions are to walk the bike on cobblestone sections, and we initially thought that these were the square paving stones that make up most of the road. However once we saw the old cobblestones we understood that those are the ones we needed to avoid. The old stones showed grooves carved by ancient chariots and carts, and the old stones can be avoided by riding on the dirt beside the road.
The bike rental and tourist info stop provides a map of the sights and stops along the trail, which includes museums and catacombs. We only stopped at one museum because it was free (first Sunday of the month) and we had to pay at the catacombs.
We booked 3 hours for the bike rental, which was actually enough for the 20 km out and back ride, but you can just pay for hours beyond the initial rental at the same rate of 5 euros per hour.
It was a fun experience, and while we booked on a Sunday since there are supposedly no cars on the Appian way on Sundays, there were still a few vehicles we shared the road with.
