Ostia Antica outside Rome

John and I took the subway to Ostia Antica early one morning during our stay in Rome. It was a beautiful, gusty and sunny day. 

The site of the ancient city is a short walk from the Ostia Antica subway stop. Soon we were on the Decumanus Maximus, the street that bisects the ancient city. Ostia was the major port for Rome in the 1st and 2nd century AD. Eventually it's harbour silted up and malaria raged in the surrounding marshland and the city was simply abandoned and then preserved wonderfully in sand and mud.

The site is a treasure trove of Roman architecture of the period - private, public and commercial. Above, we see John, with his umbrella, entering a large private home complete with an atrium in the foreground. All types of domestic architecture are represented here including apartment buildings. 

This atrium pleased me. It had a comfortable and human-scale quality that I found very satisfying. Still a pretty wealthy household. Probably, I'd have been a slave here.

I love this centaur decorating the floor of a covered arbor in the same house.

Did I mention the wonderful umbrella pines and cyprus trees throughout the city? I like to think  of Ostia Antica as Pompeii in a park. The trees give the streets a lived-in feel too.

How about this interior of the tavern on Via di Diana! It strongly resembles modern Roman restaurants and has wonderful details like this lovely fresco of local food. It also had a wonderful marble bar, hangers for clients' coats and a lovely little patio out back, lined with marble benches and featuring a charming, shallow fountain. Nice!

I loved the mosaic floor of the Baths of Neptune near the Theatre. Neptune rides a chariot driven by four sea-horses and surrounded by a retinue of sea beasts and deities. Pretty sumptuous and preserved in the open air.

We sat on the steps of the Temple to Ceres for an alfresco late-morning picnic of sandwiches bought in Rome earlier in the day. John loved the view.

First, he shot a fragment of column lying nearby. What attracts us so to fragments of architecture or sculpture, eh? Are we hopeless Romantics?

Ostia Antica's beautifully preserved Theatre lay before us in all its glory.

Look closely. You'll see some adventurous young visitors at the very top enjoying the view. That's the main entrance to the auditorium at the bottom.

I loved the marble Theatre Masks that decorated the stage. Let's leave off our visit here. Hopefully we've intrigued you sufficiently to tempt you to visit next time you visit Rome. It's on the subway. Go early and you'll have the place to yourself. When we left around noon the tour buses were just arriving.