POSTUMIA, VIA, an ancient highroad of northern Italy, constructed in 148 B.C. by the consul Spurius Postumius Albinus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aemilia Lepidi) and Cremona, just east of the point where it crossed the Po. From Cremona the road ran eastward to Bedriacum, where it forked, one branch running to the left to Verona and thence to the Brenner, the other to the right to Mantua, Altinum and Aquileia. The military occupation of Liguria depended upon this road, and several of the more important towns owed their origin largely to it. Cremona was its central point, the distances being reckoned from it both eastwards and westward. (T. As.)