Appia

Paolo Rumiz traveled on foot, with a handful of friends, the first great European road, the Appia, and gives us back the lost itinerary, from Rome to Brindisi, "more out of civil duty than for literature". He often did this by extracting deleted segments from the silence of History, listening to the voices of the past and awakening the imagination of the incredulous people encountered during the journey. From Horace to Antonio Cederna (passionate defender of the Appian Way from building speculation), from Spartacus to Frederick II, a gallery of memorable characters takes shape and traces of Arabs and Normans meet. Meanwhile, the women dressed in black, the dry stone walls, the musicality of the language anticipate the entry into the East. To conquer the wonders of an authentic and secret Italy, however, it is necessary to also take on the dirty work - junctions to bypass, guardrails, paths overgrown with reeds, concrete construction, sometimes entire mountains sold off to water and wind multinationals - and face the truth of the places by trampling the earth with the "free foot". The story is counterpointed by the maps drawn by Riccardo Carnovalini, who found the route on maps, in aerial photos and on the ground, and who described the itinerary in the book: a precious contribution and a very useful tool - considering the absence of signs for those wishing to follow in the footsteps of this advance march.