Ostia: the Harbour City of Ancient Rome

Ostia: the Harbour City of Ancient Rome

Close to Rome Ostia’s ruins will allow us a full immersion in ancient times. The Archaeological site of the first Roman colony. It looks like Pompeii but it’s not.

Ostia is a Roman settlement founded at the mouth of Tiber River, it was a defensive stronghold and Rome’s trading port. Its origin is very old, probably in 600 BC and it grew following Rome’s destiny to get to count 50.000 inhabitants in 2nd century AD. After the fall of the Roman Empire together with geographical upheaval – nowadays the sea is three kilometers away while the town was founded on its shore – the settlement was entirely abandoned. Only in 1800s archeologists started digging and found the old settlement. Exactly like you do in Pompeii you can walk on Roman streets and see precisely how the ancient world was. Even though you won’t find all the paintings that you would find in Pompeii, you’ll be amazed by the extended mosaics, the houses’ height, the public lavatories and even the ancient roman diners in an incredible time travel. The dimension of the settlement will impress you – it is estimated that only 40% of the town has been excavated – and the feeling of being in an ancient world adventure will capture you.