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From the historical Roman road network to modern infrastructure in Italy

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  • Luca De Benedictis
  • Vania Licio
  • Anna Pinna

Abstract

An integrated and widespread road system, like the one built during the Roman Empire in Italy, plays an important role today in facilitating the construction of new infrastructure. This paper investigates the historical path of Roman roads as main determinant of both motorways and railways in the country. The empirical analysis shows how the modern Italian transport infrastructure followed the path traced in ancient times by the Romans in constructing their roads. Being paved and connecting Italy from North to South, consular trajectories lasted in time, representing the starting physical capital for developing the new transport networks.

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  • Luca De Benedictis & Vania Licio & Anna Pinna, 2022. "From the historical Roman road network to modern infrastructure in Italy," Papers 2208.06675, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2208.06675
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mauricio S. de Carvalho & Patrícia C. Melo & Bruno T. Rocha & Isabel Proença & João de Abreu e Silva, 2025. "Market potential, road accessibility, and firm births: evidence from twenty years of road investment," Working Papers REM 2025/0364, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Davide Fiaschi & Cristiano Ricci, 2023. "The spatial evolution of economic activities and the emergence of cities," Papers 2310.07883, arXiv.org.

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