ROME — In ancient times, chariot racing was a favorite spectator sport along the Via Appia Antica, the old Appian Way.

Today, watching joggers and bikers might be the 21st-century equivalent for visitors sampling history along this venerable road. You might even want to do your people-watching as the Romans do it — from the vantage point of an osteria, a roadside inn with a garden for dining on capretto, spit-roasted young goat, the local specialty.

The Appian Way was begun as a military highway in 312 B.C. by the statesman Appius Claudius. Paved with huge lava blocks in a bed of crushed stone cemented with lime, the roadway was wide enough to allow two chariots to pass. Soon it stretched some 350 miles to the Adriatic port of Brundisum (now Brindisi) at the heel of Italy's boot. Alongside it ran the Claudian aqueduct, supplying fresh water for Rome's gardens, fountains and the baths that could accommodate 3,000 citizens at a time.

Rich Romans built villas, tombs and mausoleums here, against a backdrop of the purple Alban hills. Under ivy-draped walls, early Christians dug catacombs, which were tunneled graves for their dead. Helmeted Roman legions marched off to war along the road, trading caravans passed through, and visiting princes paraded here, riding elephants and bearing gifts of caged lions for the circus games.

A modern-day tour of the Via Appia Antica might start at the end of the Forum, just beyond the Circus Maxentius where charioteers raced seven times around an obelisk cheered by spectators in 10 tiers of stone bleachers. Near here, weary travelers beheld Rome's golden milepost — where all roads led. Soon the pleasant road, shaded with cypresses and umbrella pines, passes scattered piles of eroded bricks that once were grand mausoleums.

A short distance brings the traveler to the dome-shaped ruins of the ornate tomb of the noblewoman Cecilia Metella. She was the daughter-in-law of Marcus Crassus, who shared the triumvirate with Pompey and Julius Caesar. In "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Lord Byron muses whether she died young and fair or old and wise:

"This much alone we know: Metella died,

The richest Roman's wife. Behold his love or pride."

Pope Urban VIII ripped up the marble floor of her tomb to build the Trevi Fountain.

At Porta San Sebastiano is the landmark Church of Domine Quo Vadis. Here legend says St. Peter, fleeing Nero's persecutions after the great fire, saw a vision of Christ heading toward the city. "Lord, where goest Thou?" he asked, and the vision replied, "To Rome to be crucified again."

Also at Porta San Sebastiano stands the largest and best preserved of the fortified gates in the Aurelian Wall that embraced the seven hills of Rome for more than a thousand years. The twin gate towers house a small museum of wall artifacts. Here you can walk along the top of the wall for postcard views of the Appian Way and the distant Alban Hills. All about are vineyards producing Rome's refreshing Frascati wine.