Expeditions from Rome: travelling along the ancient roads of Italy with Thomas Ashby and his companions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Thomas Ashby—the British School at Rome's first student in 1901 and later its Director from 1906 to 1925—regularly ventured into the Roman Campagna and travelled along Italy’s ancient roads. Alone or in the company of others, Ashby followed the line of the Roman roads where he could, searching for traces of their material remains. Ashby and his companions’ topographical and historical research in Italy was ground-breaking and Ashby’s work on Roman roads has stood the test of time.

In this exhibition, we recreate several journeys from Rome along the ancient roads of Italy, conducted by Ashby and his friends, BSR scholars, and associates, such as R.A.L. Fell, Robert Gardner, J.S. Beaumont, Arnold J. Toynbee, Peter Paul Mackey, and Agnes and Dora Bulwer. These journeys include sections of the Via Flaminia, Via Appia, Via Traiana, and Via Amerina. The tours conducted by these men and women have left us with remarkable visual records of the state of the countryside and ancient roads of Italy as they were in their time. Through their photographs we can retrace their itineraries, follow in their footsteps, and uncover tangible and intangible heritage that has since been lost or irrevocably transformed.