The Romea Francigena Cycle Route EuroVelo 5 starts Canterbury in England TheItalian stretch, more than 1500km, offers cycling tourists an impressive manifold sequence of breathtaking panoramas.

The cycling route is different from the walking one: while the latter follows the Via Traiana past Bari and the coast, the former goes back to the Via Appia Antica past Taranto.

As a starting point, the pilgrim can choose the Arco di Traiano in Benevento in the Campania region, a city full of monuments of the Romans, the Samnites and Longubards. The Appian Ways went amid Irpinia and Daunia, turning towards Basilicata on the footsteps of the former volcano of the Vulture where it meets cities full of history like Melfi with its Normann castles tied to the personality of Fredrick II and Venosa, Horace’s hometown, the Carpe Diem poet. Quindi, la Bradano rift valley che separa l’Appenino Lucano dall’Alta Murgia fino a raggiungere Gravina, Altamura e Matera, e successivamente la Terra delle Gravine fino a Taranto, la città spartana. La terra si fa rossa nell’Alto Salento da Oria fino a Brindisi, dove le due colonne romane segnavano la fine del viaggio verso il porto d’Oriente.