The museum area of the Roman coastline includes two complementary and integrated routes from a museographic and environmental point of view. The first route, which takes place outdoors, encounters the most interesting sites of the Ostiense reclamation area: the low and high water canals, the large collection tank for low waters, the old and modern pumping stations.
In the main building of the plant, whose construction dates back to 1884, it is possible to admire the engine room almost in its original conditions, which still preserves, and operates, the first hydraulic lifting pumps.
In the garden area, life-size models of the farm huts and some agricultural tools are displayed. The second route, inside the museum structure, is divided into various sections that represent different themes and moments related to reclamations and the physical and anthropic transformations of the territory: the coastal farm before the 19th century; the hygienic and sanitary situation of the countryside and the legislation for the capital’s sanitation; discoveries on the ways malaria is transmitted and the anti-malaria fight; the birth of labor cooperation in Ravenna; the reclamation enterprise of the Roman coastline; the birth and development of contemporary settlements.
In the rooms, period photographic documents are presented; memories and findings; original domestic objects and work tools; testimonies, songs, sounds, and evidence in video and audio recordings from protagonists and holders of life memories from the last century; reconstruction sets and scaled plastic models of the reclamation area. A special plastic model with water lift pumps simulates the functioning of the reclamation plant.
