The Via Appia reached Benevento exactly where the Sabato crossed it, before its confluence in the Calore, the other river flowing through the heart of the city.
Thanks to the connection regina viarum guaranteed between Rome and the port of Brindisi, the gateway to the East, the Samnite city has become an essential commercial hub in the heart of the Empire, getting economic advantages and an important role, testified by the great works, both infrastructural and cultural, that the Romans carried out and which have come down to us in large part.
The Samnites had already built a bridge on the Sabato. But for the Appia, a new one was necessary, more imposing and adequate to the importance of the main road passing through it. It was built in the 3rd century AD, when Appius Claudius Caecus was the censor. With five arches, restored severals times even in the Imperial age, it was called Ponte Marmoreo (Marble Bridge), then renamed Leproso (Laprous), as we still know it, because nearby, in the Middle-Ages, there was a leper colony. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1688 and rebuilt with four arches, currently the bridge is a pedestrian only access to the city.
