A picnic on Via Appia Antica by fishandchips
Via Appia Antica, built in 312 BCE was the most famous of the roads leading to Rome. It stretched from Rome to Brindisi, through which trade with the colonies in Greece and the East was funneled. It was apparently along the Appian Way that an escaping Peter encountered the vision of Christ, causing him to go back into the city to face his subsequent martyrdom. The road's initial stretch in Rome is lined with monuments and tombs of (old) patrician Roman families. The Appia Antica is closed to cars on Sundays allowing locals and tourists to use the route as a picnic spot and it?s very popular!! The day I close to wander around here it was a bit damp so not too many Romans relaxing & eating food!
You can take bus 218 from the San Giovanni Metro stop. It follows the Appia Antica for a bit. An alternative is to ride the Metro to the Colli Albani stop and catch bus 660, which goes up the Appia Antica from the south, veering off it at the San Sebastiano catacombs.