Horse Riding the Appian Way and Villa dei Quintili in Rome
Wanting to escape the heat and abundant amount of people in Rome, we discovered via the wonderful Internet that there are horse riding tours approximately 10 kilometers from the center of Rome. I couldn’t believe that we’d be so close to Rome. The stables and property are hidden from view, up on a hill, 20 minutes from where we were staying at Villa Borghese, although we did get one of the racing driver taxis.
There are many different tours available and depending on your experience and time frame, they happily customise them for you. We decided to book a two hour ride and thoroughly enjoyed riding through history among the cool leafy tree lined road that dates back 2400 years.
When they say all roads lead to Rome this is the one where it all began.
The Appian Way or Via Appia Antica was one of the most strategically important Roman roads of the ancient republic.
Riding Rome
As stated on their website 'This walk sets out from the stables and follows the ancient Appian Way, lined with Roman monuments on both side of the road and eventually, just beyond the 5th milestone, reaches the magnificent remains of an immense Roman villa built by two wealthy brothers, the Quintilis, in the time of Hadrian.
The villa, with its thermal baths, private aqueduct and hippodrome was so fabulous that the emperor of the time, emperor Commodus, was envious and had the Quintili brothers put to death and took the villa for himself!'
It looks like the remains of a castle and village, not private property.
Drone footage of this ride in Rome!
All the remains of mausoleums on the road amazed me. It was only the affluent that could bury their remains close to the road, and it was prestigious to do so. The remains are still there to this day, but now the affluent have beautiful villas along the road instead.
Tony and I out on our ride.
The Ruins
I rode a lovely 17 hand high white horse called 'White', rather obvious naming, the other was a lovely mare named 'Zorro'. I’m not sure who named these horses but they were well kept, and trained. The horses are ex- race horses or equestrian trained. They are lovely natured and happy to be ridden.
After we rode around the perimeters of the villa on our horses, we detoured on horseback from the villa, through the nearby Basalto quarries on the way home.
These quarries, which they jokingly call “Little Grand Canyon”, are actually where, 2000 years ago, the slaves obtained the rocks to cut the cobbles used to pave Appian Way. The deep passageway has also become a refuge for many species of birds and small animals, especially goats, and often becomes a little lake during the winter months.
The Appian Way was constructed from large stones and stretched from the Roman Forum to modern day Brindisi.
The Verdict
This is most enjoyable way to see ruins, and spend a couple of hours, stress free away form the hordes of people in Rome. The guide speaks Italian and English and has an abundance of knowledge about the area.
You can book from 1 hour to half day ride, including lunch riding tours, with levels from beginners to experienced. This riding tour has only been running since April 2015, but it is well done and becoming quite popular.
If you would love to try this go to www.ridingancientrome.it.
About the author: Tanya Lococo is an Image Consultant and Travel Blogger. She is passionate about people discovering their uniqueness and finding the same in our beautiful world. Follow her adventures on My Type of Travel, An Image Edge and on Facebook @mytypeoftravel.
