Torres Novas, Portugal, Aug. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Cultural Heritage Institute has opened a classification procedure for a 500 metre section of a Roman road in Torres Novas, part of Via XVI of Antonino's Itinerary, which connected Lisbon and Braga.
"We're talking about an extremely important road for the country, the Roman road that connected Lisbon to Braga, in other words, it was the main route that crossed our country," the councillor responsible for the Territorial Intervention Department of the municipality of Torres Novas, in the district of Santarém, told Lusa on Thursday.
According to João Trindade, this road is of extreme heritage, archaeological and historical importance, and also demonstrates the importance that Torres Novas has always had throughout the ages, noting that this Roman road passed through the main towns of the country.
"As there is a special section in our territory with very interesting conservation characteristics, we decided to move on to this part of conservation, identification and classification to preserve better one of the greatest legacies left to us by Roman engineering and that's why we thought it was important to classify this section of the so-called Antonine itinerary, which was the 16th Roman road in the Iberian Peninsula, ancient Hispania," he declared.
According to João Trindade, the section in the process of being classified is "well preserved", in "three segments over approximately 500 metres", and "presents the distance that was typical of Roman roads, with the central divider and the five-metre-wide" road.
The section of the Casal da Quebrada/Bom Amor Roman road is now part of a rural landscape and is currently a path used mainly by farmers in the region for tractors and jeeps.
The announcement published on Tuesday in the Diário da República (Official Gazette) determines the opening of the national classification procedure for the Casal da Quebrada section of the Via Romana XVI of the Antonine Itinerary (“ab Olisipone Bracaram Augustam”), in the Torres Novas Parish Union (Santa Maria, Salvador and Santiago), in the district of Santarém.
The classified site and the buildings located in the general protection zone (50 metres from its outer limits) are covered by the announcement aimed at protecting and safeguarding them.
João Trindade, who welcomed the publication of the notice in the Official Gazette, also said that, as part of this process, the municipality of Torres Novas intends, "in the short and medium term, to implement a project to enhance" this archaeological heritage.
"In addition to cutting off the road to vehicular traffic and creating an alternative route, it is planned to clean, conserve and restore the road, as well as to enhance the site by putting up information panels, along with actions to publicise the site, with guided tours and the creation of walking routes related to cultural and natural heritage," he said.
At the same time, it is also the municipality's aim to carry out an "archaeological survey" to "characterise and document the type of construction" of this road structure and "collect details that allow us to date" the time of its construction.
"The study of Roman roads in the municipality of Torres Novas and their articulation with the Roman settlement of the territory is also part of the project "Villa Cardílio and the Romanisation of the Almonda river basin", he explained, a process that has been underway since 2021 and in which this section plays a "central role".
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