From the historical Roman road network to modern infrastructure in Italy

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that Italy's modern transport infrastructure, including motorways and railways, closely follows the ancient Roman road network, highlighting the lasting influence of historical routes on contemporary development.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical evidence linking ancient Roman roads to modern Italian infrastructure, emphasizing the historical continuity in transportation planning.

Findings

Modern Italian transport routes follow Roman roads.

Roman roads served as physical capital for future infrastructure.

Historical routes influence current transportation networks.

Abstract

An integrated and widespread road system, like the one built during the Roman Empire in Italy, plays an important role today in facilitating the construction of new infrastructure. This paper investigates the historical path of Roman roads as main determinant of both motorways and railways in the country. The empirical analysis shows how the modern Italian transport infrastructure followed the path traced in ancient times by the Romans in constructing their roads. Being paved and connecting Italy from North to South, consular trajectories lasted in time, representing the starting physical capital for developing the new transport networks.