A place like Ostia **** shouldn't really exist. The town that was Rome's maritime gateway has managed to survive the centuries in a remarkable state of preservation. Boasting multi-level apartments, bath-houses, temples, markets and more mosaics that you can count, Ostia is one of most instructive Roman sites in Western Europe. And it's also one of the nicest to visit, with many quiet corners where you can have a whole street to yourself - a welcome contrast to the tourist mayhem of central Rome. (That's me in the photo below).
You could easily spend a full day (or more) exploring Ostia. The site is simply too big for me to follow the format of other posts on this blog, so instead this is a more general overview - where it is, why it's there and why you should strongly consider visiting it (if you haven't already). Future posts will go into more detail including a series of walks around different parts of the site. That's the plan, anyway.
Date of Visit
The photographs in this post, as well as travel and access information, date from my visit in 2026.
A Brief Bit of Background
Ostia was the port of Rome, and its first colony. Although the River Tiber was navigable for smaller vessels as far up as the city itself, most sea-going traffic had to unload its cargo at the river-mouth - first on sandy riverbanks, then on quaysides and finally in a series of purpose-built harbours (Portus) a short distance up the coast. Trading activity and maritime businesses were the core of the Ostia's very being, as its surviving monuments bear witness: it is a place of warehouses (below), marketplaces, fishmongers and shipbuilders. But at the same time the needs of a normal Roman town had to be met. We see bakeries, shops, bars, laundries, bath-houses (quite a lot of bath-houses, in fact), temples, tombs and a brilliant set of latrines.
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| Ostia - entrance to the warehouse of Epagathus and Epaphroditus |
Ostia's story starts as far back at the 4th century BCE, when the Romans built a fort to control the mouth of the Tiber. Known as the castrum, this sat squarely over what later became the town's forum. Only a few fragments now remain.
From these modest beginnings the town expanded, with a warehouse quarter developing between its main east-west road (the Decumanus Maximus) and the river. Public buildings were added, including a number of temples, along with more houses. By the middle of the 1st century BCE the town was so large that new walls were erected with three main gates: the Porta Romana on the main road from the capital (now the main entry for modern visitors), the Porta Marina leading to the sea and the Porta Laurentina from where a road headed south along the coast. The resulting layout (below) remained broadly unchanged through the remainder of the town's existence - and we can walk most of these streets today.
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| Ostia street plan (from Meiggs, 1973) |
The aerial image below shows the site at a slightly different angle to the plan above. It's worth noting that the Tiber has changed its course since Ostia was founded: instead of the sharp turn to the north that we now see, its course in Roman times ran along the entire north-western edge of the town (see the top of the plan above). The coastline here has also changed: the main road in the bottom left corner of the image below follows the line of the old Roman shore. Modern Ostia grew up on this new land - a major reason why the old town remained preserved.
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| Ostia Antica - aerial view 2026 (c) Google Maps |
While the Tiber was the source of Ostia's prosperity, it also presented problems. Silt carried down the river caused sand bars to build up, impeding the passage of larger ships, while its narrow width (around 100 metres) made it difficult for larger ships to manoeuvre in the port. As Rome passed from Republic to Empire the problems of Ostia's port facilities were being considered at the highest level.
According to Plutarch (Caesar 58:10), Julius Caesar planned to build breakwaters and dredge the river before his schemes, and indeed life, ended abruptly on the Ides of March. It was Claudius (41-54 CE) who finally took action, ordering the construction of a new harbour (Portus) a few kilometres north of the river mouth. A canal was cut to link the new harbour directly to the Tiber.
These works weren't entirely successful, and the new harbour proved unable to prevent the loss of shipping in a storm of 62 CE. Under Trajan (98-117 CE) a further harbour was built between Claudius's harbour and the river. Its extraordinary hexagonal shape is still visible today: look out for it when taking off from or landing at nearby Fiumicino airport.
Even though the new harbours were a short distance from Ostia - and on the wrong side of the river - their construction didn't dent the town's prosperity. On the contrary, its economy boomed. Major building projects were initiated, with various emperors taking a personal interest in adding to the town's facilities. Under Domitian (81-96 CE) the overall building level was raised by a metre, partly to reduce the risk of flooding but also to provide firmer foundations for future construction projects.
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| Ostia - Baths of Neptune |
Hadrian's reign (117-138 CE) saw the erection of the Baths of Neptune (above), Ostia's largest public baths, on the top of an earlier structure. Many of its striking black and white mosaics still survive, most with a suitably maritime theme. Ostia's central temple, the Capitolium (below), dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva (as was usual in Roman towns), also dates from around this time, as do many of the residential blocks (insulae) that we'll meet shortly.
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| Ostia - the central Capitolium facing the Forum |
Imperial patronage continued, with Commodus (sole emperor from 180-192 CE) extending the town's theatre so that it could hold up to 4,000 spectators. This has now been restored to host modern day events. The 3rd century saw the building of several grand residential properties, sometimes converted and repurposed from earlier structures. A good example is the House of Cupid and Psyche (below), with ostentatious decoration and flooring.
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| Ostia - House of Cupid and Psyche - opus sectile flooring |
Eventually Ostia's fortunes began to wane. During the 4th century activity moved north to Portus as silting continued to block the river and by the 5th century new building had stopped in the town. Existing structures remained in use, however, and there is evidence that the Porta Marina baths were upgraded in post-Roman times (during the Ostrogothic rule of Theoderic 493-526 CE). But by the 9th century the town was completely abandoned, with settlement moving further inland away from the threat of pirate raids. The 15th century castle of Julius II, still visible (and visitable) a short distance east of the modern entrance to Roman Ostia, marks the site of the new settlement.
Roman Ostia never vanished entirely from the record, although the surrounding malarial swamps probably discouraged visitors. The site was used as a source of stone: pieces of high quality marble mysteriously found their ways into the fabric of the cathedrals of Pisa and Florence, while other stone vanished into medieval lime kilns. Treasure-hunters searched for valuable inscriptions and sculptures. While some of the ruins had become buried under soil and river silt, it seems that others remained standing and visible. The site came under papal ownership and excavations began in the early 19th century, continuing in a more systematic way into the early 1900s. However, like many ancient sites in central Rome, it was the period of fascist rule under Mussolini that saw an acceleration of excavation and reconstruction. As elsewhere this was not always carried out sympathetically (for example see my post on Trajan's Markets). Investigation and research continues at the Ostia; more recent discoveries include the frescoes of the Insula of the Priestesses (below) in the 1970s. The site museum, which is highly recommended, reopened in 2024 after a major renovation; I'll deal with this in a later blog post.
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| Ostia - frescoes in the Insula of the Priestesses |
Location, Access and Practicalities
Roman Ostia, known as Ostia Antica to distinguish it from the modern town on the coast, lies some 25 km south-west of the centre of Rome, a short 15 minute drive from Rome's Fiumicino airport. The main entrance, ticket office and car park (here) is accessed from the Viale de Romagnoli.
Getting there by public transport is straightforward: allow about an hour to reach the site from the centre of Rome. Trains to Ostia Antica depart variously from Piramide or Ostiense stations; we caught metro line B to EUR Magliana and changed trains there. This worked fine although Rome's metro can be notoriously over-crowded. The route is covered by the RomaPass ticket. You get off the train at Ostia Antica station, followed by 5-10 minute walk to the site entrance. Note that the walking route includes a footbridge with steps and no ramp: this would not be practicable for a wheelchair. (And, indeed, many of the streets within the site itself retain their uneven Roman paving.)
Opening times (the site is closed on Mondays) are on the Ostia Antica Parco Archeologico website where you can buy tickets in advance. We didn't bother: on our visit (during the Easter school holidays) the queue for tickets at the site entrance was short, in marked contrast to crowds of tourists around the Colosseum in central Rome. In any event, do try to get there early: there is a lot to see, and even in a full day you are unlikely to cover the entire site. In hot weather, exercise the usual precautions: fluids, sun screen and a hat. The good news is that there is a café (here) and toilets within the site.
A Few (More) Ostia Highlights
As mentioned above, this blog post is only an introduction to this remarkable site. Some of Ostia's highlights have already been pictured above, but here's a quick run-through of a few more. For someone like me who was brought up visiting the sites of Roman Britain, this is heady stuff.
Despite all of Ostia's major public buildings, it is the multi-storey apartment blocks (insulae) and almost-intact street scenes that provide some of the most memorable images. In some of these buildings you can climb to the upper levels, while others contain intact wall paintings. Pictured below is one of the best preserved - the House of Diana, dating from the Antonine period (around 150 CE).
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| Ostia - House of Diana (on the left) |
If you walk to the end of this street and turn right you will find one of Ostia's delights - a wine bar or thermopolium (below). You can imagine folk coming off the street to lean on its counter and pass the time of day. It has an almost modern feel.
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| Ostia - wine bar (thermopolium) |
Also in this district is the Flour Mill of Silvanus (below) where flour was milled, and bread then baked in large ovens before being sold in a street-front shop.
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| Ostia - Flour Mill of Silvanus, showing millstones |
Sticking to a commercial theme, one of Ostia's most extraordinary monuments is the Square of the Guilds (below). Although the remaining walls of these buildings are very much on a 'Roman Britain' scale, it is the floors that you need to look at. What we have here is an open square - originally colonnaded - containing the premises of Ostia's traders, merchants and shipowners. Each is marked by a unique black and white mosaic containing images that signalled their particular trading interest or destination. We see ships, rivers, lighthouses, dolphins and even a few elephants - advertising, Roman style.
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| Ostia - Square of the Guilds |
Here are a couple of examples. First (below) is a mosaic advertising merchants trading with Sardinia. The text (NAVICVL[AE] ET NECOTIANTES KARALITANI) translates as 'Shipowners and merchants from Karalis' - which is modern-day Cagliari. The barrel-shaped object on the left represents a grain measure (modius).
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| Ostia - Square of the Guilds - grain ship (with grain measure) advertising merchants from Sardinia |
This rather magnificent elephant (below) mosaic marked the office of merchants from North Africa. They may have traded ivory rather than live elephants, but we do know that many wild animals were shipped across the Mediterranean to 'perform' (and usually meet a grisly end) in Roman amphitheatres.
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| Ostia - Square of the Guilds - elephant mosaic |
There are many more of these; a stroll around the square will take longer than you might expect.
At the southern end of the Square of the Guilds is Ostia's theatre (below). For me, it has been perhaps over-restored, but this does mean that it can still host events and it's always nice when ancient sites can be used for something approximating their original purpose (unless it's for beast hunts, gladiator fights, executions or similar). Access was restricted at the time of our visit for further works (out of picture).
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| Ostia - theatre |
Religion played a major role in Roman life and society, and Ostia is peppered with temples to an eclectic variety of deities. While the Capitolium (see earlier) represented an 'official' place of worship in the town centre, there were many alternatives including a synagogue and a few Christian structures from the later Roman period.
One of the earlier temples in the town, dating from the late Republican era (1st century BCE) is the Temple of Hercules (below).
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| Ostia - Temple of Hercules (1st century BCE) |
There's not a lot of the building left, but it did provide a number of interesting finds including this marble relief (below), now in the Ostia Museum, showing Hercules in the centre. It was given by Caius Fulvius Salvis who was a haruspex - a soothsayer (or official entrail-inspector). The scenes, starting from the right, depict a statue of Hercules being rescued from the sea by fishermen, Hercules handing out lots (sors) - in effect, divine judgements - and people making an offering.
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| Ostia Museum - relief from the Temple of Hercules |
On a quite different scale, a number of Temples of Mithras are dotted around the town. Mithras was the mysterious eastern deity beloved of soldiers up on Hadrian's Wall, which seems a world away from the sunbaked streets of Ostia. Occupying rooms rather than whole buildings, these small temples seem to have been very private affairs. To some extent they still are, as many were closed or inaccessible on my visit. One that I was able to access (although it took a bit of finding) was the Mithraeum of Lucretius Menander (below), dating from the early 3rd century CE, which retains its mosaic floor and some wall plaster.
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| Ostia - Mithraeum of Lucretius Menander |
Ostia's bath-houses provide some of the towns most striking ruins, partly because many contain excellent mosaics, but also because bath-houses generally seem to have been built robustly (think of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, for example). We've already met the Baths of Neptune, but a few more are more than worth a mention. One of my favourites was the Baths of the Seven Sages (below).
On the south-western edge of the town, in what would have originally been a coastal location (possibly even on the beach) are the Baths of the Porta Marina (below). It's a bit of a trek to get here - this is about as far from the site's main entrance as you can get, but it's worth it for both the substantial nature of the the ruins ...
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| Ostia - Baths of the Porta Marina |
... as well as yet another fabulous (and famous) mosaic - the Mosaic of the Athletes (below). There's a lot of detail to unpick here, but it will have to wait for a more detailed blog.
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| Ostia - Porta Marina Baths - mosaic of the atheletes |
I should also mention the Forum Baths back in the town centre (below) - another well-preserved structure albeit with fewer mosaics on display. Originally built around 160 CE, these were still being updated and added to until the late 4th century CE.
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| Ostia - Forum baths |
Across the street from the Forum Baths lies one of Ostia's most famous sights - a marvellously well-preserved Roman latrine (forica). There were two entrances from the street, possibly using revolving doors.
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| Ostia - public latrine near the Forum Baths |
I've gone on longer than I intended - this was only meant to be a brief introduction - but Ostia is the sort of place that once you start exploring it's difficult to stop. The same applies when you're writing about it. So, with regret, I will leave it there for now. Watch this space for more in the future.
Further Reading
I'm unable to track down an easily available, comprehensive and up-to-date English language book about Ostia (surely a gap in the market?). However, the Ostia-Antica website provides a magnificent resource of articles, maps and photos (although some of the latter are a bit out of date) including an topographical directory with clickable plan that you can use to dive down into the detail of individual buildings and monuments. Links are provided to a number of references, as well as fascinating early footage from the site such as film taken from a zeppelin flyover in the 1920s.
References that I have consulted include:
Gering, Axel (2012) 'Ruins, rubbish dumps and encroachment: resurveying late antique Ostia' Late Antique Archaeology 9(1), pp. 249-288. - link
Meiggs, Russell (1973) Roman Ostia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Comprehensive, but dated.
Ostia Antica Parco Archeologico (2025) Guide to Ostia Antica. SAGEP Editori. The guide book bought at the site proved to be a useful companion.
Pavolini, Carlo (2016) 'A survey of excavations and studies on Ostia (2004–2014).' The Journal of Roman Studies 106, pp. 199-236. - link
See also the general References page of this blog.
Text and photographs (c) Mike Hetherington. Visits to sites described in this blog are at your own risk.
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