Keeping Out the Barbarians

The Walkway of the Aurelian Walls follows one of the most impressive surviving stretches of Rome's late-third-century defensive circuit. Built under Aurelian and Probus, the brick-faced rampart rises up to 15 meters and is reinforced by square towers spaced roughly every 30 meters, each containing a covered chamber designed to house defensive machinery. The city-facing side of the wall is easily viewed from the Viale Carlo Felice Gardens, while the exterior face can be followed along Viale Castrense. At Via Nola, the route continues beside the Castrense Amphitheatre, whose blind arches were incorporated directly into the fortification—an ancient cost?saving measure that avoided dismantling the existing structure. East of the amphitheatre, Viale Castrense passes beneath a series of arches where the Aurelian Walls merge with the Claudian Aqueduct, begun in 38 AD under Caligula and completed in 52 AD by Emperor Claudius. From this junction, the line of fortification turns sharply and continues along Via Casilina toward the monumental double gate of Porta Maggiore. - AsNotedIn