The Roads to Rome: A History of Imperial Expansion

by Catherine Fletcher

Inspired by original research and filled with color and drama, this is an exploration of two thousand years of history as seen through one the greatest imperial networks ever built. "All roads lead to Rome” is a medieval proverb, but it's also today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire—and these ancient roads continue to grip our modern imaginations as a physical manifestation of Rome’s extraordinary greatness. Over the two thousand years since they were first built, these roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. As channels of trade and travel—and routes for conquest and creativity—Catherine Fletcher reveals how these roads forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond. The Roads to Rome is a magnificent journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the reader meanders through a series of nations and empires that have risen and fallen. Along the way, we encounter spies, bandits, scheming innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, young aristocrats on their Grand Tour, a conquering Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and even Mussolini on his motorbike. Reflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is "a history in every stone that strews the ground.” Based on vibrant original research, this is the first narrative history to tell the full story of life on the roads that lead to Rome.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Italy, Audiobook, Ancient History, European History

400 pages, Hardcover

Published December 3, 2024

About the author

Catherine Fletcher holds a PhD in history from the University of London. She is the recipient of many awards and fellowships at the British School at Rome and the European University Institute in Florence and takes up a position as a Teaching Fellow in History at the University of London in the Fall. Divorce of Henry VIII is her first book.

Reviews

[LPosse1 Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★½
A Delightful, Wandering Journey Through Roman Roads, Ruins, and Reflections

The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher is a charming, concise, and deeply enjoyable “history of Roman imperial expansion” that reads as much like a travel memoir as it does a historical study. She has been obsessed with the ancient roman road network her whole life. A gift given to her from her dad growing up in England. I absolutely loved this book. Using immersive reading through Kindle and Audible, and supplementing with a first-edition hardcover (which includes some lovely maps and images), I found myself completely absorbed in Fletcher’s playful and intelligent narrative style.

In the vein of A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins—another personal favorite—this book offers a creative, tangential, and stimulating approach to Roman history. As an educator, I know that the best learning happens when our brains can make connections to past experiences or ideas. It’s that “aha, now I get it” moment that cements knowledge and keeps it with us. Fletcher’s approach invites exactly that. This isn’t just a textbook—it’s an experience.

What makes the book even more fun (and oddly perfect for someone like me with unmedicated adult ADHD) is how joyfully all over the place it can be. One moment Fletcher is describing the engineering of a Roman monument along the Via Flaminia, and the next she’s musing on the delicious hummus she ate at a nearby café. That kind of narrative meandering doesn’t detract—it enhances. It makes the story human, relatable, and alive.

The book also benefits from Fletcher’s boots-on-the-ground approach. She traveled extensively throughout Europe to explore the ancient Roman road network firsthand, and it shows. Her use of ancient travel guides, literary excerpts, and even a silver cup from the first century CE helps to transport the reader through time. It turns out that people have been taking grand tours of Italy and the Roman world for centuries—and we’re just the latest to walk those paths.

One minor critique: Fletcher’s liberal use of quotations from other writers—ancient and modern—can sometimes overshadow her own voice, which is witty, smart, and very much worth hearing on its own. That said, the final chapters, which reflect on the roads’ significance during World War II and in the modern day, were a real highlight for me. These meditative reflections tied the ancient and the contemporary together beautifully.

The Roads to Rome isn’t just a book—it’s a lovely vacation, a thoughtful history, and a celebration of the timeless allure of travel. Highly recommended for history lovers, road-trippers, and restless minds alike.

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to classify. Part cultural history of ancient Roman roads through time, part travelogue, occasional rambles on historical tangents. There is a fair bit on Fletcher's personal travels as she did research for the book: travel conditions, hotels, what she ate, the cost of lunch, etc. More on the actual Roman roads (e.g. how they were built) and the Romans who built them would have been good. The ancient Romans actually get a bit scanted. I liked the sections on the middle ages and Renaissance. I don't really have much interest in modern Italian history and the later part of the book is a bit overweight on Mussolini and fascism. Not exactly the book I envisioned from the title, but reasonably informative and entertaining.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love the vibe of this book, but the haphazard jumps between epochs in the various chapters make for a sometimes confusing reading experience. does put up some interesting questions. main takeaway being that roads, like any part of history, can and will be manipulated to suit a persons/state’s narrative.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Catherine Fletcher is a history professor at Manchester Metropolitan University who specializes in Renaissance and early modern European history. Her 2024 book The Roads to Rome is part-history textbook, part-travelogue, as she retraces roads of the Roman Empire throughout Italy and other parts of Europe. Though the subject matter is undoubtedly interesting (and kudos to Fletcher for hopefully getting a book advance that helped fund her pan-European travel), unfortunately this 464 page book/14 hour audiobook is excessively rambling (pun intended) and chronologically jumbled, leaving me simultaneously bored and confused. I DNFed it just over 2/3 of the way through as I wasn't getting anything out of it other than bedtime listening to induce somnolence.

My statistics:
Book 89 for 2025
Book 2015 cumulatively

[Jack Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 4.5 I think.

This took me ages to read, but that was partly because I was on holiday (when I read fewer books than when I'm not on holiday) for some of it and partly because I allowed myself to be interrupted by four (!) novels.

This is an entertaining and fascinating canter through the history of the history (if you like) of Rome's roads which, as we all know, 'go without saying' when discussing exactly What the Romans Did For Us.

It's chronological, but also includes details of Fletcher's own journeys; I think this is what really makes it much more fun than it would be if she'd just sat at home writing, both for her and for the reader. I particularly enjoyed the stuff about pilgramage and the Crusades, and then the Romantics. The mid-twentieth century (aka WWII) section was also very good. It was also really interesting to read about the roads in the non-northern European bits of the empire. Good stuff.

I've never been to Rome. I really should go.

[Anand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I received this book as a gift, and it reminded me why I avoid buying history books by academics. The author seems intent on packing every possible person, place, and road name into her descriptions, which makes for a plodding read. The most interesting parts are when she describes her own travel through the Roman roads. If she brought that narrative style to the historical events and dispensed with naming the less critical people and places, this would be far more enjoyable.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The British Historian Catherine Fletcher wrote The Roads to Rome: A History of Imperial Expansion, a history of Ancient Rome and how people remember Ancient Rome’s Road. Fletcher writes, “Around 100,000 kilometers seems a fair estimate of many roads the Ancient Romans built. Certainly, the network extended across Europe, through the Near East and all around the Mediterranean, and perhaps as important as its exact size was the impression it made on contemporaries” (Fletcher 4). The book is both a history book and a travel book. Fletcher travels on Ancient Roman roads in fourteen countries (Fletcher 309). The book spent a long time on the roads of Rome under the fascist leader Benito Mussolini and the use of the route of the Ancient Roman roads during World War II by the militaries of both the Allies and Axis forces. Fletcher is interested in the connection between the concept of imperialism and roads. Fletcher is also interested in how roads can be used for military purposes. Fletcher is interested in how the sites of World War II “have become modern sites of pilgrimage” “for veterans and their families” (Fletcher 281). The book is also a history of tourism, from the ancient world to the early 21st Century. I enjoy reading Fletcher’s book entitled The Roads to Rome.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

the title is misleading. This is a good book.

I listened to Catherine speak several months as part of a Smithsonian Associate’s program on the roads of Rome. Her pitch made me buy the book. I enjoy reading about Roman history and this was something I’d heard about but didn’t know much. Needless to say, my wife didn’t find it as interesting as I did.
This book for obvious reasons was much more informative than her talk. Her approach, in the book, reminded me of the travel books she referenced. But her writing was fresh enough that it wasn’t a rehash of those earlier books.
I particularly enjoyed her sharing her experiences mixed in with the stories. This linked earlier tourist with her visits. I also enjoyed her sharing the “other story” of several locations. I’m as guilty most travelers of not fully knowing the story of places I’m visiting. She shared several stories that added more depth to locations that had I known would have helped visits there more enjoyable.
Trust me, the book is entertaining, informative and just fun to read.

[Timo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Toen ik de aankondiging van The Roads to Rome zag, was ik meteen enthousiast. Helaas, van dat enthousiasme blijft niets meer over. Het boek is een verzameling van bijeengelezen citaten, zonder veel analyse, inzicht of zelfs samenhang. Fletcher schudt de ene na de andere dooddoener uit haar mouw. 'Modern convenience - whether for residents or travellers- comes at a cost', eindigt bijvoorbeeld het dertiende hoofdstuk. Het ergste waren nog Fletchers beschrijvingen van haar eigen reizen langs 'Romeinse wegen' (in werkelijkheid nam ze vooral de trein). Om het onverbloemd te stellen: amai, zo saai!

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

A LOT of work has gone into this book, research, and I love an index, and the map helped.

Whilst the book is based around time - the narrative jumps around to the different trips that the author takes. I enjoyed reading about the history - a little too many quotes and names. The reflection of the author about the roads and who travelled them. I did skip a lot of the detail, as it sent me to sleep!! (haha!). I thought that the it could have been shorter and punchier, it was a little self indulgent that the reader would actually be interested in her travels (I wasn't).

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful. I really enjoyed it! I’m drawn to books about Roman roads, as it’s my third book this year on the subject. This book spans two thousand years and details the great accomplishments on Roman engineering and tells the stories of the many civilizations, nations and individuals who have traveled on them, expanded them and lived along them ever since. Roads tell a story about people…Whenever I walk through a modern European city, I can’t help but ponder that I’m standing on the spot that a multitude of generations have walked along in the past. Thanks to the Romans for building them! Thanks to the author for telling their story!

[Matthew Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual book. History cum travelogue with a bit of politics. Initially this disturbed me, but in the end I appreciated that the author was trying a different approach to bringing history to life. I enjoy a longue durée. This isn’t quite that but it is thoroughly enjoyable and worth the read (imho).

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book about the history of the Roman road network, the uses to which roads have been put and the philosophy of road-building (including how road-building has often been linked, historically, to empire-building). Fascinating stuff for the classical historian, or the historian of the regions once encompassed by the Roman Empire . . .

[Wouter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps a book more to be admired than loved, but it kept my attention throughout thanks to Fletcher's engaging writing. As the author herself admits, there is still much we don't know about the Roman roads yet taken as a conceptual tool it worked really well in narrating the history of Italy and Europe in a transhistorical manner. 3,5*

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that does not know what it wants to be; part travelogue, part history, part historiography of Roman roads. Some interesting stories, but served up in disjointed and rather rambling sections. And I really don't know what train journeys in Italy have to do with Roam roads.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts but I drifted off too many times to call it a fascinating history

[Soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that doesn't know what it is for.

[Steven Beningo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at the development of the Roman Empire’s Road Network, and what happened in those transportation corridors over the subsequent two millennia.

[ryn !! · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! Was written to where it is accessible and i was able to read it front to back so quickly. Was super interesting and informational!!

[Iestyn Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great interesting facts. Structure not wholly clear to me and a tad turgid

[Max Almond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stream of consciousness of someone who went on a European vacation for the first time masquerading as a history book.

[Nicolas Sagnella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro ricco di spunti per pianificare itinerari a passo d'uomo fuori dalle grandi arterie moderne, non- luoghi impersonali; e riscoprire invece la potenza e l'importanza storica e culturale delle strade antiche.

scorrevole ; stile e contenuto che sono rivolti molto di più ad un pubblico anglosassone e non troppo informato.
Per chi sia invece già un amante dell'argomento offre molto meno di quanto atteso .

[Montecristo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un lascito della civiltà romana che non sempre viene valorizzato come meriterebbe. Merito quindi all'autrice per averci scritto un libro, anche se secondo me non ha sfruttato pienamente la materia a disposizione, narrazione un po' confusa e troppo autobiografica.