Walking the ancient stones: the Via Salaria near Labro

Perched above the still waters of Lake Piediluco, the medieval village of Labro carries more than one thousand years of visible history. Its stone lanes, terracotta rooftops, and tightly clustered houses tell a story that begins long before the Middle Ages. Beneath the quiet pace of contemporary village life lies another Italy entirely, a road of basalt and travertine that Roman engineers laid down when the Republic still flexed its military reach toward the Adriatic.

The road is the Via Salaria, one of the most ancient arteries in the Italian peninsula. Its name alone points to its original purpose, the carriage of salt from the Adriatic coast inland to Rome. For centuries, pack mules and carts followed its rutted track, and along its length grew the way stations, tombs, and milestones that shaped the Sabine countryside. Visitors arriving in Labro today often notice fragments of this older world tucked into the hillsides just beyond the town walls, pieces of a route that once carried grain, soldiers, and merchants across central Italy.

For travellers arriving from Australia, the fascination with such a layered landscape runs deeper than simple sightseeing. Italian-Australian families, especially those whose roots trace back to the regions around Rieti and the Sabina, frequently return to Lazio to trace ancestral villages and the older paths that connected them. A short detour from Rome along the Via Salaria opens onto a side of the peninsula that feels far removed from the capital's crowds, and it offers a way to read the Italian countryside the way Romans themselves would have read it.

What follows is a look at the stretch of the Via Salaria that brushes against Labro, the traces still visible today, and the practical experience of walking the ancient road. The information draws on local archaeology, ongoing preservation work, and the experience of those who guide small groups along the path each season.

Origins of the Via Salaria and the Sabine landscape

The Via Salaria predates Rome's road-building programme of the late Republic. Long before the first paved sections were laid, the route existed as a track used by the Sabines to bring salt from the Adriatic across the Apennines. The Latin word salarium, which gave us the English word "salary," originally referred to the allowance given to soldiers so they could buy salt, and the road's name preserves that economic memory.

Under the Romans, the track became a consular road proper, engineered with the layered construction that survives in fragments across central Italy. Engineers cut into hillsides, bridged small valleys, and set up milestones that recorded distances and imperial titles. The road followed a logic of practicality: gentler gradients, reliable water sources, and stopping points that could become towns. Cities like Rieti, Ascoli Piceno, and Amiternum grew prosperous along its length, fed by the steady traffic of goods and officials.

Near Labro, the road climbs through a section of the Sabine hills where the terrain sharpens and the views open out toward Lake Piediluco and the Terminillo range. The path here was carved into slopes that still hold traces of the Roman paving, and archaeologists have located several milestones and segment walls within a few kilometres of the village. The setting is one that feels surprisingly close to the Australian high country in winter, where granite ridges and weathered stone carry their own stories, though here the climate is gentler and the vegetation belongs to the central Apennines.

What remains near Labro today

Walking out of Labro toward the lake, visitors pass sections of terraced fields and old olive groves that conceal pieces of Roman infrastructure. In several places, the old roadbed is still recognisable as a raised causeway, lined with the polygonal stones that Roman surveyors preferred for their interlocking strength. Some of these stones have been reused in later walls, while others lie exposed along the slopes.

The most evocative finds are the milestones, known locally as cippi miliari. A few have been moved to safer positions near the village, but their original placement still marks where the road once crested a rise or skirted a difficult stretch of ground. Inscriptions on these stones name consuls and emperors and give the distance to the nearest town, a small piece of imperial record-keeping that has outlasted the empire itself.

Alongside the road lie the remains of funerary monuments, a common feature of Roman roads since burials were forbidden inside the city walls. Small tumuli and rectangular bases hint at the families who lived and traded along the route, and the local archaeological office has catalogued several of these sites. Visitors from Melbourne who have explored the heritage trails of central Victoria will recognise the same curiosity that drives interest in these quiet Sabine remains, where every foot of ground carries a clue to the people who passed through.

From salt trade to pilgrim route

The Via Salaria remained in use through the medieval period, though its condition shifted as the Roman maintenance system collapsed. Stones were pulled from the paving for new buildings, and traffic redistributed itself across regional tracks. Yet the road never lost its importance entirely. Monasteries grew along its length, and the route became part of a network of pilgrimage paths leading toward Rome and the Adriatic.

Labro's own foundation in the early Middle Ages sits within this story. The village's elevated position offered control over a key stretch of the road, and its earliest fortifications were built to oversee traffic and collect tolls. The castle that still dominates the skyline, now restored, was part of a chain of strongholds that monitored movement between the Reatine basin and Umbria. Visitors who have walked the Heysen Trail in South Australia or the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia will understand the appeal of such routes, where every rise brings both a new view and a new historical layer.

In recent decades, interest in the Via Salaria has revived among scholars and travellers. Italian cultural associations and the regional park authority have collaborated to map surviving sections, and some stretches are now signposted as part of regional heritage walks. The connection to Labro gives visitors a clear base from which to explore this older layer of Italian history without the crowds of more famous sites like Pompeii or Herculaneum.

A walker's guide to the Roman path

The most rewarding section of the road near Labro runs roughly three kilometres between the village edge and the lakeside plain. The walk is gentle, with one short climb, and rewards even casual walkers with views across Piediluco and the surrounding hills. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times, especially in summer, when the light picks out the stones and the air over the lake softens.

Comfortable shoes are essential, as some sections of the old road are uneven or partially overgrown. Bring water, a hat, and a small torch if you plan to explore any of the darker stretches of terraced landscape. A printed or offline map is helpful, since mobile coverage can be patchy in the deeper parts of the valley. Many visitors pair the walk with a stop at a local farm for pecorino and a glass of wine, a fitting conclusion to a Roman route that was always about more than simply getting somewhere.

Guided tours can be arranged through the village, and several local guides speak English well. They can point out details that are easy to miss, such as the orientation of milestones, the alignment of culverts, and the small votive niches cut into roadside rocks. Travellers from Sydney who have explored the colonial archaeology of The Rocks will find a familiar pleasure in reading a landscape for its hidden layers.

Preserving the path and local heritage work

Local authorities in Labro have invested steadily in protecting the traces of the Via Salaria that fall within municipal territory. The work has included clearing invasive vegetation from key sections, securing loose stones, and placing discreet markers that explain the history without disturbing the integrity of the site. Visitors who wish to support ongoing preservation can find out more about current projects through the mayor's office in Labro.

The council has also worked with regional archaeologists to ensure that any new construction near the old roadbed follows careful protocols. Italy's cultural heritage laws are famously strict, and in Labro these rules have helped channel development away from the most sensitive stretches. The result is a landscape in which the medieval village, the surrounding olive groves, and the ancient Roman road all retain their distinct characters.

Pack a pair of sturdy walking shoes, allow a full morning for the three-kilometre stretch of the old road, and time your visit for late spring or early autumn, when the Sabine hills are at their quietest. After the walk, a plate of local pecorino and a glass of Sagrantino in the village square makes a fitting reward, and it lets you end the day exactly where the road once passed through, at the heart of Labro itself.