Editing Appian Way (section)

==== Rediscovery ====
The Appian Way's path across today's regions [[Lazio]] and [[Campania]] has always been well known, but the exact position of the part located in Apulia (the original one, not the extension by Trajan) was long unknown, since there were no visible remains of the Appian Way in that region.<ref>[[#lugli-orientate|lugli-orientate]]</ref><ref>[[#piepoli-2014|piepoli-2014]]</ref>

In the first half of the 20th century, the professor of ancient Roman topography [[Giuseppe Lugli]] managed to discover, with the then-innovative technique of [[photogrammetry]], what probably was the route of the Appian Way from [[Gravina in Puglia]] (''Silvium'') up to [[Taranto]]. When analysing [[aerophotogrammetry|aerophotogrammetric]] shots of the area, Lugli noticed a path ({{langx|it|tratturo}}) named ''la Tarantina'', whose direction was still largely influenced by the [[centuriation]]; this, according to Lugli, was the path of the Appian Way. This path, as well as the part located in today's [[Apulia]] region, was still in use in the [[Middle Ages]]. A further piece of evidence for Lugli's proposed path is the presence of a number of archaeological remains in that region, among them the ancient settlement of Jesce.<ref>[[#lugli-orientate|lugli-orientate]]</ref><ref>[[#piepoli-2014|piepoli-2014]]</ref>

By studying the distances given in the [[Antonine Itinerary]], Lugli also assigned the Appian Way stations ''Blera'' and ''Sublupatia'' (which also occurs on the ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]'') respectively to the areas ''Murgia Catena'' and ''Taverna'' (between masseria (estate farmhouse) S. Filippo and masseria S. Pietro). However, the toponym ''Murgia Catena'' defined too large an area, not allowing a clear localization of the Appian Way station. More recently Luciano Piepoli, based on the distances given in the [[Antonine Itinerary]] and on newer archeological findings, has suggested that ''Silvium'' should be ''Santo Staso'', an area very close to [[Gravina in Puglia]], ''Blera'' should be ''masseria Castello'', and ''Sublupatia'' should be ''masseria Caione''.<ref>[[#lugli-orientate|lugli-orientate]]</ref><ref>[[#piepoli-2014|piepoli-2014]]</ref>