Why Biking Rome’s Oldest Highway was Terrifying but Worth It

Our ride on the 2,000-year-old Appian Way was a journey from present to past.

We biked past ancient ruins in the Caffarella Park, a quiet oasis near the heart of Rome. Photo by author

Our first mistake was walking to the e-bike shop. My partner and I had just arrived in Rome, and our hotel room wasn’t ready.

We deposited our luggage with a concierge, stuffed ourselves with pizza, and made the ill-conceived decision to walk to an e-bike touring company 20 minutes away. We reasoned that we had plenty of time before our scheduled tour, and we needed to walk off some of the calories we had just consumed.

But afternoon temperatures had already soared to 98 degrees, a 20-minute walk turned into a 45-minute one, and our Maps App seemed to think we were still in Grenada.

We were lost.

After enjoying this pizza lunch at a sidewalk cafe, we decided to walk off some calories and got lost. Photo by author

Two blocks later, we found our way again, but I was parched. Ducking into a small shop, we ordered Cokes and sank wearily into two plastic chairs on the sidewalk.

I had already guzzled the bottle of water we were sharing, but in this heat, sweat poured from every inch of my body, my hair hung limp and plastered to my face, and my…