Italy's Via Appia enters the Unesco World Heritage List

Italy is at the top of the Unesco World Heritage list. The World Heritage Committee, meeting in New Delhi at its 46th session, has decided to add the 'Via Appia Regina Viarum' on the World Heritage List - becoming the 60th Italian site to be recognised.

The list also includes the Ensemble Schwerin residence in Germany, the Niah National Park in Malaysia, the archaeological area of Al-Faw in Saudi Arabia, Constantin Brâncuși's sculptural ensemble in Târgu Jiu and the Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia, both in Romania.

The candidature was promoted for the first time directly by the Ministry of Culture, which coordinated all the stages of the process and prepared the necessary documentation for the application.

About 650 kilometres long, the ancient Via Appia goes through central and southern Italy. It was the first of Rome's great roads built using innovative techniques; true masterpieces of civil engineering that complemented the natural roads and are the most enduring monuments of Roman civilisation.

The route was inaugurated in 312 B.C. by the censor Appius Claudius Blind to connect Rome to Capua. It was later extended to Benevento, Venosa, Taranto and Brindisi.

Conceived for military needs, the Via Appia immediately became the road of great commercial communications and primary cultural transmissions. Over time, it became the model for all subsequent Roman public roads.

"UNESCO has grasped the exceptional universal value of an extraordinary engineering work that over the centuries has been essential for trade, social and cultural exchanges with the Mediterranean and the East," said Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.

"This recognition adds to the extraordinary success achieved less than a year ago by Italian opera,"