What to do and see in Ostia Antica, Lazio: The Best Sights & Landmarks

Reviewed By patrickn775 - London, United Kingdom

After days of rain the weather broke and we headed for Ostia. It is a short journey from central Rome by Metro, with one change to an overground line. The site is a five minute walk from the station. This ancient town was once the port hub for goods from across the Roman Empire and must have been a busy commercial town. This is in evidence in the many Horea, or warehouse complexes dotted around. The site is vast with many buildings easily recognisable from antiquity. Highlights for me included a smart Tabernae that could almost still be serving wine and snacks today. Shopping arcades, designated emporia selling fish (with marble tanks), a complete theatre behind which is a big piazza with mosaics identifying each guild where merchants did business and deals were made. It is different from Pompeii where the dramatic death and destruction visited on a whole city over two days makes for a sometimes chilling but utterly compelling visit. The crowds are can be daunting there but you can still find quiet spots off the main tracks. However, I would say nearby Herculaneum is an even more unmissable visit with stunning, vivid colour and survival of wooden furniture and roofs plus even paper scrolls from the boiling mud and the dead still situ. Ostia feels far more alive than both, however, even though the former were frozen in time—Vesuvius’ devastation took a heavy toll. At Ostia Antica the crowds when we went were totally absent. Much of the site we had entirely to ourselves. You will need a map and the talk through device if you are to make your visit work. The site is cheap to visit and deserves more support than it gets. Let your imagination take over and enjoy this big, rare ancient marvel for its superb preservation, diversity of architecture and critical role in feeding, clothing and building of Ancient Rome.