Nei dintorni di Roma ci sono diverse attrazioni da fare in giornata. Ideale è rent a car in Rome Fiumicino or in dedicated points of the capital, to leave for the locations of the vast area surrounding the “eternal city”. Among these points of interest are: the remains of ancient Ostia; the Port of Claudius, the Port of Trajan, the Necropolis of Porto, the Basilica of Saint Hippolytus and the Ship Museum in Fiumicino.
The ruins of ancient Ostia
The remains of ancient Ostia are located in a very different geographical and territorial context from ancient times: in fact, in the Roman era the Tiber river ran along the northern side of the settlement, while now it only touches a small part of the western sector, as its bed was dragged downstream by a disastrous and famous flood in 1557; moreover, the coastline, originally close to the city, is currently about 4 km away, due to the advance of the mainland caused by the debris left by the river over the last 2,000 years.
Ostia was thus a city founded, with its own river port, on the sea and on the river, and this particular location determined its importance over the centuries from both a strategic-military and an economic perspective. An ancient tradition attributed its foundation to Rome’s fourth king, Anco Marzio, around 620 BC, for the exploitation of the salt flats at the mouth of the Tiber (from which the name Ostia, from ostium = mouth).
However, the oldest remains are represented by a fortification (castrum) made of tuff blocks built by Roman colonists in the second half of the 4th century BC, with exclusively military purposes, to control the mouth of the Tiber and the Lazio coast. Later, especially after the 2nd century BC, (when Rome already had dominance over the entire Mediterranean), the military function of the city began to wane, destined in a short time to become the main commercial emporium of the capital.
It is open every day except Monday, December 25, January 1 and May 1. Opening hours: from the last Sunday in October to February 15: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM; from February 16 to March 15: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM; from March 16 to the last Saturday of March: 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM; from the last Sunday in March to August 31: 8:30 AM – 7:15 PM; from September 1 to September 30: 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM; from October 1 to the last Sunday of October: 8:30 AM – 6:30 PM.
Port of Claudius
The emperor Claudius, in 42 A.D., initiated the construction of a large maritime port (Port of Claudius), located 3 km north of the Tiber’s mouth, completed in 64 A.D., under the principate of Nero. The new port complemented those of Ostia and Pozzuoli, which since the early 2nd century B.C. had been the cornerstone of Rome’s port organization.
The imposing infrastructure provided a calm basin where unloading goods from large cargo ships arriving here from all over the Mediterranean could be carried out safely, and their transfer onto riverboats (naves caudicariae) suitable for navigating up the Tiber to Rome.
The port basin, about 150 hectares in size, was excavated partly on land, partly enclosed towards the sea by two curved moles converging at the entrance. Here, on an artificial island, stood a gigantic lighthouse, similar to the famous lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, which signaled the entrance of the basin to sailors. At least two artificial channels (the fossae mentioned by an inscription of 46 A.D.) ensured the connection between the sea, the port of Claudius, and the Tiber.
The foundations of the right (or northern) mole are still visible behind the Ship Museum extending about one kilometer westward. Meanwhile, on the quay that delimited the port basin inland, some of the functional structures pertaining to the port (the so-called Captaincy, a cistern, and thermal buildings) can be visited, all however built at a later date (2nd century A.D.) than Claudius’s complex.
The poor safety and the progressive silting to which the port was subjected pushed Emperor Trajan to build, just 40 years later (100 to 112 A.D.), a new, more internal basin (Port of Trajan); the port of Claudius, however, continued to be used as an anchorage shelter.
– Photo Ostia Antica Beniculturali
Port of Trajan
After the construction of the Port of Claudius, inaugurated in 64 A.D., the increased supply needs of Rome imposed the creation of a new port basin built by Emperor Trajan. The new port of Trajan is hexagonal in shape and was connected by a new canal to the Tiber in order to facilitate the transfer of goods to Rome.
The coast today is about 3 km away from the ancient Portus plant, which is squeezed between the infrastructures of the Fiumicino Airport, the network of road and highway routes, and urban development. In this context, the archaeological area constitutes an unexpected oasis also from a naturalistic point of view, thanks to the presence of wetlands and rich vegetation.
The extent of the ancient city can be estimated at around 65 hectares for the period following the construction of the city walls, i.e., for the 5th century. The state-owned area (32 hectares) includes only part of the ancient city of Portus since the hexagon and the entire suburb are still in private ownership.
Necropolis of Porto, Sacred Island
The complex currently allowing the viewing of over 200 funerary buildings known as the state-owned area of the necropolis of Porto, constitutes the southernmost limit of the burial settlement developed along the via Flavia Severiana, from the end of the 1st century AD to the 4th century AD. The site occupation dynamics confirm the importance of the elevated road axis towards which the tombs converge, which at first isolated, progressively form the first street front. This is followed by extensions that incorporate the road curb and the construction of buildings along a second recessed front of limited extension. The last construction phase closes the remaining space in the first front, which is built continuously.
The architectural tombs visible in the necropolis present a homogeneous typology: the cell, sometimes two-storied, is generally square, often accompanied by a contemporary or subsequent enclosure. The roofs were barrel-vaulted or terrace-like, with a triangular pediment on the facade, animated by plinths, pilasters, columns, and capitals that outline the meticulous brickwork curtain on which small windows and doors framed by travertine thresholds, jambs, and lintels open. The representative value of the facade is confirmed by the inscriptions (in Latin, more rarely in Greek), placed above the door within frames made of pumice and bricks.
The inscriptions report the name of the owner, the tomb dimensions, testamentary provisions, and the rules of use of the sepulcher, providing valuable data on the social composition of the Portuense population composed mainly of merchants, freedmen, and small entrepreneurs. Precisely these activities, and thus the earthly identity of the deceased (the midwife assisting childbirth, the surgeon operating, the hardware manufacturer and retailer, the grain merchant, etc.), are depicted in the trade scenes—expression of a lively “popular” art—represented on the bricks placed beside the inscription.
The external aspect of the tomb is not determined by the chosen funerary rite, cremation or inhumation, which instead strongly influences the internal layout by dividing the wall into two registers: niches containing urns for the cremated in the upper part, arcosolia for the inhumed below; the subfloor levels are reserved for inhumation depositions (formae), arranged on multiple levels.
Basilica of Saint Hippolytus and Antiquarium
The Basilica of Saint Hippolytus was brought to light in the early 1970s, near the Fiumicino canal (ancient Trajan ditch) in the Isola Sacra. Built between the late 4th and early 5th century, it is the most important early Christian basilica in the port suburb. It stands on a Roman thermal building of which some rooms remain, particularly some water cisterns.
The three-nave basilica with apse preserves traces of the bishop’s chair and the baptistery built in a later phase. It was used during the Middle Ages and was probably abandoned in the 15th century following the depopulation of the diocese. Inside the basilica, remains of inscriptions and valuable sculptural artifacts were found, preserved in the nearby Antiquarium, where the Carolingian ciborium made during the pontificate of Leo III (795-816) stands out for its importance.
Ship Museum in Fiumicino
Inside the Ship Museum of Fiumicino are displayed the remains of five boats (plus fragments of the side of two others) dating from the 2nd to the 5th century AD. The wrecks were brought to light between 1958 and 1965 during the construction works of the “Leonardo da Vinci” International Airport. Only the bottom structures of the boats have been preserved, which, covered by marine sediments, resisted the destructive action of water, flora, and marine fauna.
The ships were located inside the port built by Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD, in an area between the site of the museum construction and the remains of the northern pier of the port basin. In this area, located in a marginal position and subject to silting, there was a real “naval cemetery” where boats too dilapidated to still serve were abandoned.
Of the five best-preserved boats, two (Fiumicino 1 and 2) can be identified as the naves caudicariae known from ancient sources. The caudicariae, a sort of large river barges, were used for transporting goods from the seaport to the river ports of Rome. These barges, without sails, were hauled by ropes by men (the helciarii mentioned in classical sources) or by oxen that proceeded along the bank of the Tiber. This propulsion system, called hauling, was used until the late 19th century.
Fiumicino 3 is also a river vessel but smaller in size compared to the previous ones. Fiumicino 4, originally equipped with a square sail, is instead a boat suitable for coastal navigation or coastal fishing activities. The small “Fisherman’s Boat” (Fiumicino 5), equipped with a central live well for transporting fish, was also used for this activity. The bottom of the hull was, in fact, perforated at the live well to allow the internal circulation of water and thus keep the catch alive.
Inside the museum, numerous objects related to life and equipment on board as well as types of materials that, transported by sea, arrived at the port of Rome (amphorae, marble, etc.) are also on display.
