La viabilità antica nel palermitano. Nuove acquisizioni e prospettive di ricerca

Abstract

This contribution focuses on two major roads, one for coastal movement in northern Sicily (the Via Valeria) and the other for mountain transit through the Madonie mountain range (the Via Catina-Thermae), both of which facilitated travel to and from the port city of Thermae Himeraeae. The Roman road network probably overlay older routes, and the road crossing the interior of the island
played a particularly important role from the Byzantine period to the modern era. The recent increase in ancient topographical studies, along with discoveries made by the Soprintendenza per i beni culturali e ambientali of Palermo,
have shed new light on the construction characteristics of at least one stretch of the Via Catina-Thermae and on the typology of the settlements served by
the two roads. Also notable is the review of features attributable to the roads: new information has been acquired both from direct observation of the remains
of some bridges and from archival and bibliographic sources. We refer in particular to the “Grande diruto” bridge along the Via Catina-Thermae, the “della Meretrice” bridge over the Torto River, located near or at the junction between the coastal and the mountain roads, the small bridge over the San Vincenzo Valley adjacent to the Hykkara statio, and the two bridges near the church
of the Madonna del Ponte in the Partinico area, both connected to the Via Valeria. Work carried out by Italian and foreign institutes in the Palermo area
in collaboration with the Soprintendenza and rescue archaeology surveys will both increase knowledge of ancient roads and the dynamics of settlement related to them and contribute to joint action to safeguard and adequately highlight the importance ancient roadways.

KEYWORDS: Roman Sicily, Roman Roads, Medieval roads, Roman bridges, Rescue archaeology.