Ostia Antica is the ancient port of Rome situated around 30 kilometres from the city at the mouth of the Tiber River. It dates from around 400BC and became the main port around early 100AD with the rise of the Roman Empire. The port was used to unload all items shipped to the city prior to being repacked on barges for their trip to Rome along the quite shallow Tiber river. The port was quite a large city with around 100 thousand residents in its heyday but due to silting and earthquakes the river changed its course and Ostia Anticas' importance dwindled from late 400 AD to the stage that it was abandoned around 900 AD.
The ruins of this area are very extensive and surprisingly well preserved as it was buried under mud and silt and remained so for over 1000 years until the late 1930s when Mussolini came to power in Italy, and major excavation works were undertaken revealing the old port city to the world again.
Our visit took us the whole day as we trained from Rome around 20 minutes and happily wandered the huge site for the remainder of the day exploring the warehouses, shops, taverns, temples, community baths and private residences plus the grand amphitheater.
The buildings are very large and mostly made from clay brick mortared to form very large and thick walls. The floors of the buildings are cement based but many of them are still covered with very elaborate and well preserved mosaic tiles or grand marble slabs dependent on the wealth of the owners. A large number of the buildings were multi storey and quite grand and well ornamented, some with internal garden rooms open to the elements with fountains built into them. The wide streets are well laid out in thick stones and well made as are still quite level to this day.
The finish of the buildings was originally marble slabs or render but only small amounts remain today due to the marble being stolen from the buildings in days gone by. The city had running water, public toilets and underground drainage and typically Roman was very advanced and well built with some very elaborate temples and public buildings and large squares for the people. In our opinion this city is much better to visit than Pompeii. It is a very worthwhile experience, but a full day is required to get around the site to see everything.