The new layout of the Via Appia Museum is the result of the reorganisation and restoration work carried out by the Soprintendenza dei Beni Archeologici di Roma in the years 1997-2000, but the decision to place a real archaeological collection in the monumental complex of the tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Castrum Caetani dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The materials collected in the Museum of the Appian Way are examples of the main types of funerary objects and monuments: urns, memorial stones, inscriptions, sarcophagi, reliefs with plant or figurative decorations, architectural elements, ideal and iconic statues, and portraits. The catalogue is preceded by an introductory chapter on the Metellian complex and by some chapters on the history of the Museum and of the excavations, with particular attention to the archive documentation concerning the recovery and restoration works carried out over the centuries in order to rediscover and enhance the Via Appia. One chapter is dedicated to the results obtained from the most recent archaeological surveys (1997-2000 excavations), carried out in the Castrum under the direction of Dr. Rita Paris.
