Rome

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Scavi di Ostia Antica

Legend has it that Ostia was founded by Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, in the second half of the seventh century BC, although the very oldest remains date ‘only’ from c330 BC. Ostia was Rome’s main port for over 600 years.

Abandoned after having been sacked by barbarians in the fifth century, the town was gradually buried by river mud. Over the centuries, the coastline receded, leaving Ostia landlocked and obsolete. Visit on a sunny weekday and bring a picnic (not actually allowed but keep a low profile and you probably won’t be ejected).

The decumanus maximus (high street) runs from the Porta Romana for almost a kilometre (half a mile), past the theatre and forum, before forking left to what used to be the seashore (now three kilometres/two miles away at Ostia). The right fork, via della Foce, leads to the Tiber. Either side of these main arteries lies a network of intersecting lanes where the best discoveries can be made.

Behind the theatre is one of Ostia’s most interesting features: the Forum of the Corporations. Here the trade guilds had their offices, and mosaics on the floors of shops that ring the open square indicated the products that each guild dealt in – shipowners had ships on the floor, ivory dealers had elephants. Further along on the right is the old mill, where the grindstones and the circular furrows ploughed by the blindfolded donkeys that turned them are still visible today. In the tangle of streets between the decumanus and the museum, make sure you don’t miss the thermopolium: an ancient Roman drinking hole, complete with a marble counter, a fresco advertising the house fare and a garden with a fountain. Located off the forum to the south-east are the forum baths – the preserved terracotta pipes that heated the walls are still visible. Nearby is the forica, or ancient public latrine. Off via della Foce, the House of Cupid and Psyche is an elegant fourth-century construction; the House of the Dioscuri has beautiful mosaics; the Insula of the Charioteers still has many of its frescoes.

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