The volume, which accompanies the exhibition hosted in the Villa di Capo di Bove in Rome, is issued on the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death as a contribution to the history of the cultural heritage of the great artist and, at the same time, of the Via Appia Antica. It is structured around two focal points: on the one hand, the reception of the Letter to Leo X (1519), which returned to life in the historiography, literature, and figurative production of the nineteenth century, becoming a reference text for the protection policies of European nations; on the other hand, the work carried out by the master and his disciples, in particular Pirro Ligorio, on the regina viarum and the via Latina, mainly translated into architectural drawings and graphic notes of the ancient sepulchres.

In the name of interdisciplinarity, the volume contains six essays by art historians and archaeologists: Ilaria Sgarbozza, Ilaria Miarelli Mariani, Maria Giovanna Sarti, Federico Rausa, Santino Alessandro Cugno and Carmelina Ariosto.