FORO APPIO (Market of A.) — Village south of Rome, mentioned in Acts 28:15 as the place where St. Paul, a prisoner, met the delegation of the Roman Church.
Together with the road of the same name, it owed its name and existence to the censor Appius Claudius (312 BC). It stood along the Appian Way about 65 km from Rome. Near a marshy and unhealthy area, Forum Appii was one of the many roadside stations on the “queen of roads.” At first it was raised to the status of a municipium, but later it was considered merely a vicus. According to Horace (Satires, I, 5, 7), Forum Appii was “full of sailors, innkeepers, and rascals.” The presence of sailors is explained by the fact that a navigable canal ran through the Pontine marshes, linking it with the port of Terracina.