Parts of Italy’s Appian Way Are Left Off UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Cue Grievances.

Europe|Parts of Italy’s Appian Way Are Left Off World Heritage List. Cue Grievances.

When Maria Innamorato heard last month that the Via Appia — known in English as the Appian Way — had been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, she rejoiced.

Ms. Innamorato, the deputy mayor of the town of Cisterna di Latina, Italy, felt the months of effort to craft a dossier detailing her town’s bona fides had finally paid off. But the joy was short-lived.

Later that same day, city officials were told that Cisterna, which is near Rome and is sliced in two by the modern iteration of the ancient road, was along one of the sections of the Appia that UNESCO experts had excluded from the heritage list.

Ms. Innamorato was stunned, as were officials from other towns that were shut out. “We still don’t really know why we were left off,” she said.

In all, three sections of the road, considered by many the world’s first highway, were passed over by experts for the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which evaluates candidates for the heritage list. The towns’ hopes of becoming new magnets for tourists, and their much-needed money, vanished.

Local officials whose towns lie along the road say their own national officials have let them down as well. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s culture minister, publicly acknowledged that Italy did not object to the decision to leave out some parts of the road. He and other officials feared any delay would have led to the country losing its bragging rights for having the most World Heritage sites.