Ostia Antica
One of the easiest excursions from Rome is to the well-preserved ruins of Ostia Antica, its ancient port city. Certainly the most traditional way to visit, much like a load of wheat from Egypt, is on a boat tour down the Tiber in warm weather. The ruins are extensive, but pleasantly parklike with shrubs and umbrella pines rustled by the wind of the nearby sea. Founded in the 4th century BC to protect the mouth of the Tiber, Ostia later became an important city for the supply of Rome. Here ships would unload grains from around the world, and merchants would store them and arrange for shipment on barges up the Tiber to Rome. A very international community of navigators, merchants, and the like joined the more local society, and archaeologists have excavated Mithraic temples from Syria and ones to Serapis from Egypt, as well as a very early synagogue. After the Goths sacked the city in the 5th century, Ostia was abandoned.
Address:
Viale dei Romagnoli 717
Rome
Italy
Telephone: +39 (6) 565-0022