Tutte le strade portano a Roma, we say in Italian, “all roads lead to Rome.” Of course, that was the case in ancient Roman times, when the capital was the heart of the known world. Having a well-conceived, well-built road network was essential in more ways than one for our ancestors: leaders of an incredibly vast territory, ensuring communications were quick and smooth was central to keeping power.

First of all, good roads facilitated the transport of goods to the capital from all provinces, but also between provinces themselves: in other words, good roads were necessary for commerce and to keep a healthy economy. Then, they were needed for military reasons, of course: Roman society grew to be very refined, especially after getting in contact with the Greeks, but it owed a great part of its success to one of the most powerful and best-organized armies ever known.