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Hints and tips for visiting the ruins.

Tourists:
- Please make sure that you have consulted the official website of the Soprintendenza first. The latest information about opening hours can be found there ("Orari"). Closed on Mondays.
- EU residents, bring your passport with you! With your passport you can get discounts. Full price ticket: 6.50 euro. Half price ticket: youths between the ages of 18 and 25. Free ticket: adults above the age of 65; youths below the age of 18; school groups (with list of student names).

INDEX (the links below lead to sections on this same page)

Apartments and hotels
Ostia
Portus
Isola Sacra necropolis
So-called Villa of Plinius

Apartments and hotels

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Ostia

Visiting Ostia is like visiting Tivoli and Hadrian's villa: a relaxing trip, that takes you away from the noise and incessant police-sirens of Rome. Reserve a whole day for your visit - not just to relax, but also because Ostia deserves it.

Dress "onion-skin" style, that is: using layers that can be removed. Remember that Ostia is close to the sea, but it can also be quite hot in the ruins even on a cloudy day. Fine hot weather is generally guaranteed from mid-May to late September. Extra-comfortable shoes! And a sun hat!

The best way to reach Ostia is by using the metro. Trains leave at station Piramide: get off the regular metro at Piramide, go up the escalator, turn immediately left and down the steps into the Roma-Lido station. Trains also leave at station Magliana, but we advise Piramide: this way you're sure to find a seat on the train. A normal metro ticket will suffice for the entire journey. Get out at the stop Ostia Antica.

Outside the station is a small bar, that should not be despised: the personnel is friendly, and the place is frequented by Ostia-researchers and - afficionados, particularly in the late afternoon. Next cross the highway using the pedestrian bridge.

There is a bar on the site, but it may be a good idea to get some food and drink in the small, enchanting modern village Ostia Antica, only two minutes away. Turn right towards the mediaeval fortress to get to the modern village. Here you will find a good alimentari. You can have a bread roll filled with something (ham, etc.) prepared for you at the alimentari. They also have soft drinks and mineral water sold from cold cabinets. The best ice cream (made on the premises) is to be found at "Il Gelataio" which is next to the alimentari. Stamps can be bought at the Post Office (mornings only) or from the tobacconist next door, who also sells postcards. There is a Bancomat (automatic teller) outside the Banco di Roma, which is in Piazza Ravenna, past "Il Monumento" restaurant. Food shops close at 13.30 and open again at 17.00, closing at night at 19.30-20.00.

To reach the site from the pedestrian bridge: keep walking straight ahead, cross a busy (!) road and after 100 meters turn left to get to the entrance (two minutes).

Many visitors of Ostia make the "mistake" of spending too much time inspecting the first few buildings that they encounter. It is not a bad idea to start your visit by following the modern road towards the right, which leads to the museum (closed in the afternoon). Here you will find a good bookshop, where you can buy a guide to the excavations. Unfortunately the best guide, written by Carlo Pavolini, has only been published in Italian (basic guide books can also be bought all over Rome from souvenir shops / kiosks). A cafetaria is nearby. Here or in front of the museum, enjoying the shade of a pergola, you can plan your visit. Behind and around the museum are the offices of the Superintendency / Soprintendenza.

It is not a good idea to pick up stones with your bare hands, in view of the presence of what the archaeologists call "our little friends": black scorpions (not deadly, but still to be avoided). There are a few snakes on the site. Please don't scare them too much ;-)

At the end of a long day you may want to get back to Rome as soon as possible. But remember the modern village, which has three restaurants: near the entrance to the excavations is "Lo Sbarco di Enea" (here the waiters dress as Romans; all major credit cards accepted; you passed this restaurant when you walked to the dig); near the fortress is "Il Monumento"; nearby is a brand new restaurant. A little further on is a nice bar. Lunch in the restaurants from about 13:00. The last train for Rome leaves from Ostia Antica a little past 22.30. After that you will have to take a night bus, which stops on the main road outside the station (Via Ostiense), not in the little road leading up to the station. The stop at Ostia Antica is to the right of this little road.

The theatre season will be held in the ruins (in the theatre, of course!) from 9 July to 30 August, in the evenings. Programme and tickets (for the performance on the same day) can be obtained from the ticket kiosk. Any good hotel will book tickets for you.

A visit to Giulio II's fortress is still free of charge and English- and French-speaking guides are available on request. Warning: the time given for the last tour, at the entrance to the fortress, is in fact the closing time, therefore the last tour starts half an hour before.



The cafetaria near the museum. Photograph: Eric Taylor.

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Portus

See the official website of the Soprintendenza.

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Isola Sacra necropolis

Currently closed to the public (September 2007)

On the Isola Sacra, the "Sacred Island" between Ostia and Portus, a very large part of an enchanting necropolis has been excavated. Few people can find the time to visit it, which is a pity, but makes a visit even more attractive.

Directions to Isola Sacra: take the Rome-Ostia line to Lido Centro (2nd stop after Ostia Antica). Exit the station, and walk back inside to the main ticket window and buy two Linee Laziali bus tickets. The bus that passes the site of Isola Sacra is marked Ostia-Isola Sacra-Fiumicino (an orange bus; the line does not have a number). The bus stop is currently on the strip of sidewalk immediately outside the train station near ticket booths. Essentially when you walk back outside from the ticket booths, you are standing by the bus stop. There is a schedule for the bus posted next to the train schedules inside the station.

When the bus comes, expect a 20 minute ride through the centre of town, on the highway past the edge of Ostia Antica, and other interesting bits of ruins, and finally on a multi-lane divided road. When the bus crosses the Tiber, start looking for the next landmark - a large water tower on the right hand side. Ring the bell for the bus stop just before the bus passes the tower - the bus stop for the Isola Sacra necropolis is the next stop.

When you step off the bus, you will be in the middle of a divided road. Walk a few steps up to the traffic light and crosswalk, and cross the part of the road to your right. A smaller road intersects with the main road here. Walk along this smaller road, which runs past fields and a few walled houses, until you come to an intersection, and turn left at the intersection. This road will take you right to the entrance to Isola Sacra. There is a hand-painted sign hanging at this intersection that says "Necropoli" with a left arrow. Admission to the site is currently free, but after you walk through the gate, turn right and sign the guest book in the gatehouse. There are bathrooms and water, but there is no food nor any place to eat nearby. The hours are the same as for Ostia Antica.

See also a description by Caroline Lawrence.



The sign visitors should look for. Photograph: Saskia Stevens.

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So-called Villa of Plinius

See a description by Caroline Lawrence.

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[JThB - last updated: 17-Sep-2007; for this page I would like to thank Barbara Cooper, Caroline Lawrence, and Kathryn McDonnell]