Ostia Antica

Famous Embrace from Ostia Antica

The drive off the Amalfi coast is difficult as you come down through Sorrento and it will take you about 1hr. 20 mins to travel 60 kms. Yeah, that’s brutal. Once on the outskirts of Pompeii and Naples you can take the Autostrada and in 172 kms and 1 ½ hrs you are in Rome.

When we planned this trip we didn’t really consider going to Rome again, but it was a good half way stop on our way to Levanto. So what originally was an overnighter turned into 3 nights and a very full two days, because you can’t go by Rome without going in, now can you!

We selected a good B&B in Ostia Antica so that we could access the old World Heritage Site

A mudcaked pillar

by walking, which we did. A word of warning if you go to this site, make sure you wear rugged hiking/walking shoes since the cobblestones are rough and far between. Ostia Antica (OA) is considered by many as a good alternative to Pompeii especially if you don’t want the day’s drive there from Rome. Both have their merits, OA is a more pleasant site to visit if it’s hot since there is shade, and the ruins were covered in mud for centuries leaving them in good ‘sealed’ shape. Pompeii resulted from a 1 time eruption of Mt Vesuvius where everything was frozen in time, including people. Both have great artifacts. Pompeii is the more known and we have been there so OA was a good alternative to see. We really liked OA since it wasn’t as dirty a site.

The Theatre - notice to the top right small stalls for commercial sales

Stalls had tile work that indicated what their business was

A Millstone from the Mill

Cafe - in its day

Public Bath Houses and Latreens seats 20

Regarding the latreen you see here. They had flowing water. There are two water sources, one that flushes the effluent away from under each toilet and another, notice in the picture that had water flowing near the foot of where the person would sit, they would scoop water up by hand or sponge  hence the keyhole opening and clean themselves. There was no such thing as toilet paper.

Lots of Statues