Ostia Antica

Ostia was Rome's harbour and grew to perhaps fifty thousand people before the river silted, the harbour moved and malaria emptied it; it was not sacked or built over, so it settled under mud and survived. The result is a Roman city you walk through rather than look at: paved streets, apartment blocks several storeys high, bakeries with millstones in place, a theatre, warehouses, public latrines with the seats intact, and mosaic floors in the Square of the Corporations showing the trades and home ports of the shipping firms that had offices there. It is far larger and far less crowded than Pompeii.

History

Ostia was Rome's port at the mouth of the Tiber, and as a centre of the corn supply it is estimated to have had around 50,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century AD. After the fall of the Western Empire it slowly decayed, its last inhabitants moved to nearby Gregoriopolis after a sea battle with the Saracens in 849, and sand dunes covered the site, which the silting of the coast has left 3 km from the sea (Wikipedia, Ostia Antica).

What to look for

• The apartment blocks - multi-storey insulae showing how Romans actually lived.
• The Corporations mosaics - shipping firms' emblems and home ports in floor mosaic.
• The bakery - millstones and ovens standing in place.
• The latrines - a public toilet block with its marble seats intact.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer on the site is very hot with limited shade. It closes Mondays. Allow at least three hours; the site is large.

Practical notes

The site is extensive and there is little shade or water. Signage is thin in places. It closes Mondays, which catches out day trippers from Rome.

Nearby

Rome lies northeast; the Tyrrhenian coast is west.