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This website is dedicated to Ostia, the harbour city of ancient Rome. Here you will find information for professional archaeologists and historians, for students of Roman archaeology and history, and for interested lay-people.
OSTIA VISITING THE RUINS: Hints and tips for visiting Ostia, Portus, the Isola Sacra necropolis, and the Museum of the Roman Ships.
In response pope Gregory IV (827-844) built a new town to the east of Roman Ostia: Gregoriopolis, at the spot of the modern village Ostia Antica. Here the church of Saint Aurea, a martyr from the third century AD, had been built.
General information. Address Ostia Antica, Viale dei Romagnoli 717, Rome RM, Lazio, Italy. Visiting Ostia is like visiting Tivoli and Hadrian's villa: a relaxing trip that takes you away from the noise and incessant police-sirens of Rome. Reserve a whole day for your visit: Ostia deserves it.
A number of tiny and very large fulleries has been found in Ostia, workshops where clothes were cleaned, which the (wealthier) Romans apparently did not do at home. Four were published by A.L. Pietrogrande in 1976, in one of the volumes of Scavi di Ostia.
The history of the ruins of Ostia is long and complicated. It is the story of barbarian invasions and raids by pirates, of a visit by Richard the Lionheart or Coeur de Lion, of popes who owned the site and started searches, and of digging aristocrats.
During the years 1831-1834 the marquis Pietro Campana excavated in Ostia by order of the bishop of Ostia, cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca. Campana was a collector of antiquities and modern art, and had connections with Napoleon III, Ferdinand II of Naples and Ludwig of Bavaria.
In the virtual museum of Ostia you will find two categories: photos of many objects in the museum and storage rooms (by inventory number), and old photos of the buildings and their decoration, taken by the National Italian Photographic Archive (ICCD). Introduction. The museum and the storage rooms.
Introduction. Each archaeologist studying Ostia is acutely aware that the ruins represent the situation in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. This situation was in great contrast with the developments in the second century, when Ostia was flourishing like never before or after.
This page will lead you to general maps and plans of Ostia and Portus, and to bird's eye views, past and present. The plans of Ostia from Scavi di Ostia, vol. See also an overview by the Sapienza University, Rome.
