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The Capo di Bove Complex on the Appian Way: the Baths of Herodes Atticus and the Archive of the Man Who Saved the Queen of Roads
The Capo di Bove Complex stands at the fourth milestone of the Via Appia Antica, 500 metres from the Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella. The name derives from the bucrania — ox skulls — sculpted on the frieze of the mausoleum, giving the name to the entire area in the Middle Ages. Acquired by the State in 2002, the site comprises a green area of approximately 8,600 square metres, with a main building on three levels and a smaller one, along with a bathing complex of the 2nd century AD. It is one of the most remarkable sites in the Archaeological Park of the Appian Way.
The Baths of Rome's Wealthiest Couple
Excavations have brought to light dozens of rooms with polychrome mosaics, basins, floors in coloured marble and the original drainage system. A Greek inscription mentions Annia Regilla — "light of the house" — suggesting that the baths belonged to her and to her husband Herodes Atticus, the extraordinarily wealthy Athenian who served as tutor to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The complex remained in use until the 4th century, after which the area became farmland of the Patrimonium Appiae, an ecclesiastical estate.
The Cederna Archive
The farmhouse, built over the Roman cistern and converted into a villa in the postwar period, has housed since 2008 the Archive and Library of Antonio Cederna: over 4,000 volumes and thousands of documents belonging to the journalist and conservationist who for decades campaigned against illegal construction along the Appian Way. It is a fitting home for one who sought to transform this road into an open-air museum.
