In
15 BC, the Roman general
Nero Claudius Drusus, the stepson of
Augustus, got orders from his stepfather to improve the
passage through the Alps for military purposes and to increase Roman control over
Rhaetia and
Noricum. The project of converting a
pack animal trail to serve wheeled vehicles was completed sixty years later in 46-47 AD by the son of Drusus, the Emperor
Claudius. People and goods could pass between the
Adriatic and the broad valley of the
Po to Tridentum (modern
Trento), then northward following the
Adige River up to Pons Drusi, the "bridge of Drusus" which developed into
Bolzano. Thence it continued towards Maia (near
Merano), and over the
Reschen Pass. From the pass it descended through the valleys of the
Inn River and the
Lech, just beyond
Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), with an extension to Burghoefe (Sumuntorium), now
Mertingen near the
Danube river and not far from the present-day town of
Donauwörth. There the Via Claudia Augusta branched into the then important Roman
military road running from West to East on the south side of the Danube river (
via militaris iuxta riva danuvii or shorter
via iuxta danuvii). This then important road is called by modern-day German historians
Donausüdstrasse. It served to secure the
Roman northern frontier, which was marked until the end of the
first century by the Danube river. Two milestones have been found, one at Rabland, a
frazione of
Partschins, near
Merano in the
South Tyrol and the other in
Cesiomaggiore, near
Belluno. Both are inscribed with the far terminus of the Via Claudia Augusta,
Augusta Vindelicorum (modern Augsburg). The milestones indicate that two routes joined at Tridentium before crossing the Alpine pass: one found its starting point at the
vicus of
Ostiglia, near the Po, the other, its site less securely identified by archaeologists and historians, at the
Adriatic port of
Altinum, (near the
Venetian Lagoon). On its way to Tridentium, that route crossed the
Via Annia, which linked Adria to
Aquileia, the
Via Popilia, which linked Altinum and
Rimini, the
Via Aurelia, between
Padua and
Feltre passing through
Asolo, and the
Via Postumia, the road linking
Genoa and Aquileia. This road was initiated by Drusus as a military artery of conquest and defence, and Emperor Claudius continued its development as a cultural and commercial artery with permanently populated
posting stations where fresh horses would be available. Some grew into considerable settlements and were fortified during the
later Empire. Others can be identified only by the findings of archaeologists. In the
2nd century AD, a second Alpine pass was opened to wheeled traffic, the
Brenner Pass. ==Cities and locations along the route==