(Trade Route) Via Imperii (The Imperial Road)
(Trade Route) Via Imperii (The Imperial Road)
Via Imperii (Imperial Road) is one of the most important of a class of roads known collectively as imperial roads of the Holy Roman Empire. This trade route runs in a south-north direction from Venice on the Adriatic Sea and Verona in the Kingdom of Italy across the Brenner Pass through Germany to the Baltic coast passing the following cities:
- Innsbruck in the County of Tyrol
- Augsburg in the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg
- the Imperial city of Nuremberg
- Bayreuth, Berneck, Münchberg and Hof in the Principality of Bayreuth
- Plauen, Mylau and Reichenbach in the Vogtland region
- Zwickau, Altenburg, Regis, Borna, Markkleeberg and Connewitz in the Margraviate of Meissen
- Leipzig – intersection with east-west Via Regia
- Wittenberg in Saxe-Wittenberg
- Cölln/Berlin, capital of Brandenburg
- Bernau bei Berlin
- Stettin in the Duchy of Pomerania
The cities on the route hold the privilege of staple right. The staple right requires merchant caravans to unload their goods and display them for sale for three days. Only after this option had been given to the local customers is the trader allowed to reload his cargo and travel onwards with the remaining unsold freight. Merchants are also obliged to use the toll road and in turn enjoy protection by the Imperial authorities.
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