Via Augusta Penedès

The Via Augusta was one of the longest roads built during Roman times. It linked Rome with Cadiz along the entire Mediterranean coast, following the route of an ancient Iberian pathway. It was fitted out as a Roman road by the Roman legionaries themselves in the 2nd century BC.

Its layout most probably corresponds to that of current roads such as the AP-7 or the N-340, but its influence goes beyond that. This is demonstrated by the fact that numerous Roman sites are concentrated around it. The remains of villas, farms and markets, from which tiles, amphorae and ceramics have been found. Remains of civil architecture have also been found, such as bridges, dams, lime kilns, silos and other remains of Roman settlements.

This important road, which connected cities on the Mediterranean coast, in turn encouraged the appearance of inns and stops where draught animals could be fed and chariots could be repaired, contributing to its consolidation as one of the most important Roman roads.

More than two thousand years later, a route has been created that covers the places where the Via Augusta passed through the Penedès. This is a unique landscape, a wine-growing mosaic made up of small rural villages, castles, watchtowers, farmhouses and wineries. The route takes advantage of the dense network of backroads, paths and farm tracks, and crosses the vast expanses of vineyards of the Penedès, approaching numerous points of cultural and historical interest, both from Roman times and later periods.