Fourteen European Towns in Order of Origin from Roman Outposts to Heath Settlements

Arlon starts the path because it began as the Roman vicus of Orolaunum, set up by the Treveri Celtic tribe. A castle followed on Knipchen hill in 1060, it joined the County of Luxembourg in 1226 and became part of Belgium in 1839, and its archaeological museum still holds Roman sculpture and Merovingian funerary art.

Wels was the Roman Municipium Ovilava and later Colonia Aurelia Antoniana Ovilabis, with about 18,000 inhabitants, and Diocletian made it capital of Noricum Ripensis. It received medieval city rights in 1222, and Emperor Maximilian I died there in 1519 after Innsbruck refused him entry.

St. Polten grew on the site of the Roman settlement of Aelium Cetium, occupied from the second to fourth centuries CE, then gained a Benedictine monastery in 791 and city status in 1169. Its name is a shortened form of Saint Hippolytus, and it became capital of Lower Austria in 1986, replacing Vienna.

Kilkenny began as an early sixth century ecclesiastical settlement on both banks of the River Nore, the oldest origin on this path outside Roman times. King James I granted it city status by charter in 1609, and the 2022 census recorded 27,184 people.

Esslingen am Neckar is first documented in 777, in the will of Abbot Fulrad of Saint-Denis. It became a Free Imperial City in 1181 and lost that status in 1802 and 1803 when Wurttemberg absorbed it, and little war damage left its medieval character largely intact.

Biella first appears in 826 CE as Bugella, in a document recording a donation by Louis the Pious. By 1245 guild records mention wool workers and weavers, and wool firms such as Ermenegildo Zegna and Cerruti 1881 remain based there.

Kecskemet is dated to the ninth century CE, with a name meaning goat pass, and was recognised as a market town under an 1368 charter. The path moves here from a wool town to a plains market town that now has a large Mercedes-Benz plant opened in 2012.

Krems an der Donau was first mentioned in 995 in a certificate of Otto III, though a child grave over 27,000 years old shows far earlier settlement. It rivalled Vienna in size in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and lies at the eastern end of the Wachau wine region.

Usti nad Labem was first verifiably mentioned in 1056 or 1057 and granted royal town status in 1249, at the confluence of the Elbe and Bilina rivers. It grew into an industrial centre with a nineteenth century chemical industry and still has an Elbe river port and a major railway junction.

Randers shows traces of activity from Viking times and was formally established around the twelfth century. It became a medieval market town whose fifteenth century half-timbered houses survive, and its 64,764 residents make it Denmark's seventh largest city.

Kolding was first documented in 1231 at the head of Kolding Fjord, and its castle Koldinghus was built by King Eric Klipping in the thirteenth century. The town saw battles in 1368 to 1369, 1644, 1658 and 1849 and won UNESCO recognition as a Design City in 2017.

Eisenstadt is first written in 1264 as "minor Mortin". It was the seat of the Esterhazy family, who brought Joseph Haydn there as court musician, and became capital of Burgenland in 1925; with 16,118 residents it is the smallest Austrian state capital.

Gatchina was first documented in 1499 as Khotchino and received town status in 1796. It is best known for the Great Gatchina Palace, a former imperial residence, and has been called Trotsk, Krasnogvardeysk and, under occupation, Lindemannstadt.

Herning ends the path as the youngest town, established in the early 1790s during heath reclamation as a commercial centre for local farmers. It became a market town in 1913 and now hosts Messecenter Herning, described as the largest exhibition centre in Scandinavia.