Vicinities
The district surrounding Rome is known in modern parlance as Lazio, or as the ancient Latium. The castles, villas, and ancient ruins of Etruscans and Romans alike make Latium as interesting to explore as the city itself. But it is an area more likely to be filled with modern Roman villas and weekend vacation homes rather than the hotels of international travelers. And although the rolling hills covered with vineyards and grazing sheep remain as they were millennia ago, the city of Rome has grown and expanded, turning most rural areas into suburbs and making most of these sights just a brief trip outside the city limits. For these reasons, it's best to approach Latium as excursions from the city rather than as an overnight getaway.Not as famous as the hills of Tuscany, the volcanic hills and lakes near Rome became summer retreats for Roman patricians and later, the papal court. At Tivoli, where the Sabines once watered their flocks in spring-fed valleys, Hadrian built his villa as did Cardinal d'Este; each diverted the streams into fountains. Then as now, Tivoli is a charming, cooling place to escape the summer heat of Rome.
Downstream from Rome, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the ancient port city of Ostia. Today, Romans head to Ostia for its beaches, not for wheat. The old residential district, Ostia Antica, has been excavated and is one of the most complete and easily accessed ruins of an ancient Roman city.