Via Campana: History, Archaeology, and Function
Via Campana, one of Rome’s ancient roads, plays a considerable role in the city’s economic and religious history. Its importance is closely linked to the salt trade (sal): it is named after the Campus Salinarum Romanum (Roman salt pan), the area of the ancient salt pans located at the mouth of the Tiber, corresponding today to Stagni di Maccarese.
The Via Campana is dated back to the origins of Rome, perhaps as early as the 8th century BC. It started from the Forum Boarium, the capital’s important commercial hub, exiting in the Republican era through the Porta Trigemina of the Servian Walls (Trigemina Gate). Following the construction of the Aurelian Walls, the road exited through Porta Portese and, for a section, ran in straight stretch parallel to the road to Portus, the harbour of Rome (via Portuense). At Pozzo Pantaleo (in the current Portuense area, between via Portuense and via Quirino Majorana) the two roads took different directions: the via Campana followed the course of the river along its right bank in a flat area, while the via Portuense crossed the hills of the hinterland. The roads met again at the ninth mile to reach Portus together (Fiumicino).
Not coincidentally the street flanked the Tiber river’s bank, as it was mainly used as a towing path. Since the origins the via Campana was used for the upstream hauling of boats -laden with salt and other goods- from the mouth to the city’s river ports. This system used ropes and draft animals, particularly buffaloes, to tow the barges (chiatte). This function remained so well known in popular memory and subsequent cartography that, starting from the 16th century, the ancient towing route was mentioned as “strada delle bufale” (the “buffalo road”).
Archaeological excavations conducted over the years have brought to light important evidence of the Via Campana and its surrounding areas: At Pozzo Pantaleo 1983–1989 surveys uncovered a road section about 50 meters long and 6 meters wide, paved with basoli (polygonal stones of leucitic lava). Some scholars identify this section as a diverticulum (side road) of the Via Campana, perhaps connecting with the Portuense, anyway the presence of the via Campana in this area is confirmed.
In an area called Colle Rosato (Former Permolio factory/ENI Area) in 1951 a necropolis with monumental burials dating from the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD was discovered, including a tomb with well-preserved frescoed walls, dating back to the mid-2nd century AD. More recent excavations in the same area revealed a paved section (approx. 50 meters) of the Via Campana flanked by service buildings such as a thermae (bathhouse) and a post station (mansio), attesting to continuous occupation from the mid-1st to the 5th century AD.
In Via della Magliana (1947), five funerary stelae belonging to the corpores custodes, Nero’s chosen guards, were found, and a cemetery area was also reported. In the area of Pozzo San Pantaleo ditch, where the ruins of the via Campana are, was also a settlement of the early Christian sanctuary of San Felice on a pre-existing basilica of Pope Julius I.
Between the 5th and 6th milestones, the via Campana reached an area of immense sacred value for ancient Rome, where the Sanctuary of Dea Dia, goddess Dia, seat of the Fratres Arvales priestly college, and the nearby Temple dedicated to Fors Fortuna both stood. These places marked the most ancient boundary of Roman territory, the ager Romanus antiquus, in this sector.
From the 3rd century AD, the name via Campana disappeared in the sources, while the via Portuense continued to be mentioned. From the Renaissance period onwards, the identification of the road network became confused: it was believed that the Campana stretch between Pozzo Pantaleo and Ponte Galeria corresponded to the current via della Magliana, but new studies tend to recognize the latter as a later route (Renaissance or subsequent), while the ancient via Campana always followed the bank of the Tiber more closely (the “strada delle bufale”). Furthermore, in historical cartography after the 16th century, the name via Portuense was used to indicate the later road network that corresponds to the current via della Magliana.Summing up, the via Campana, born as a vital towing and salt road, was progressively absorbed and replaced in name and route by the via Portuense and the modern via della Magliana, leaving its ancient and precious route documented only by archaeological discoveries.