We always love getting out on the Appian Way. It’s only a few miles from the apartment, but a completely different world.

We first took the bus out to the church of Domine Quo Vadis, which means “Lord, where are you going?” Legend has it that on this spot Saint Peter was fleeing Rome, to escape being executed, when Jesus appeared to him. St. Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” to which Jesus replied,  “To Rome, to be crucified again.” St. Peter then turned around and returned to Rome, where he was martyred.

It’s a small church, with a small fresco of the Madonna and Christ Child on the altar, from about the 15th Century.

The official name of this little church — Santa Maria delle Piante (though many refer to it as Santa Maria in Palmis). There is a stone situated in the middle of the floor here. It is said to hold the footprints of Christ when he visited St. Peter. The stone you see today is a copy: the original is not far away, in the church of St. Sebastian.

After visiting the church, we walked down the Appian Way to the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella. This monument from the first century BCE may be the most famous one on the Via Appia Antica. You can enter it. We found an informational film on the area and how it changed over the millennia. There was also a sound and light show about the woman who was memorialized here.

We also visited the ruins of the medieval church across the road. We sat for a while in the sun, enjoying the birds chirping and the happy sounds of people walking by or riding bikes.

Then it was time for a late lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, a short walk up the Via Appia toward the city. More on that in our next post.