Address
Contacts
Opening times
From Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays.
From 8.30 - 16.30 (last admission 15.30 ) from 25 October to 28 (or 29) February
From 8.30 - 17.15 (last admission 16.15) from 1st March to 31st March:
From 8.30 - 19.00 (last admission 18.00) from 1st April to 30th September
From 8.30 - 18.30 (last admission 18.30) from 1st October to 24th October
Closed on Monday, 25 December
Special openings:
Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 April and Monday 1 May 2023
Please read all visit regulations and procedures carefully at www.ostiaantica.beniculturali.it/it/eventi/visita-ostia-antica-in-sicurezza/.
Information
Free entry on the first Sunday of every month.
TICKETS
Full € 18,00
Reduced € 2,00
for citizens of the European Union aged between 18 and 25 years old
A Fidelity Card, valid for one year from the date of purchase, is available at a cost of € 40.00. This card entitles the holder to unlimited admission to the archaeological area of Ostia Antica and free access to temporary exhibitions.
OTHER INFORMATION
Due to its proximity to Fiumicino airport, the archaeological area of Ostia Antica falls within a no-drone zone: the use of drones of any kind is prohibited, even for very low altitude flights.
Read more: http://www.adr.it/bsn-comportamenti-da-osservare
The path inside the archaeological area may appear rough. Comfortable clothes and shoes are therefore recommended.
There is currently no luggage storage for users.
Inside the excavations, near the Museo Ostiense, there is a cafeteria-restaurant/self-service and a bookshop.
Rules of conduct
The route within the archaeological area may appear bumpy. Comfortable clothing and shoes are therefore recommended.
Eating meals and picnics are prohibited inside the archaeological area; the Caffetteria degli Scavi is available, as well as snack and hot and cold drink dispensers.
Small dogs are allowed, on a leash for the duration of the visit inside the archaeological area.
Due to its proximity to Fiumicino airport, the archaeological area of Ostia Antica falls within the area of no-drone zone: the use of drones of any kind, even for very low altitude flights, is prohibited.
Disabled accessibility
People with a specific badge are allowed access by car to the car park inside the archaeological area; two other parking spaces are reserved at the ticket office.
The museum is accessible via a driveway, has an entrance ramp and is fully accessible for 90% of the spaces (on request to the security staff).
Suitable toilets are available.
The green area
Apart from visiting the archaeological remains, it is interesting to observe the area of the excavations through the eyes of the botanist and landscape gardener. The arrangement of the vegetation in this case was in fact the subject of a specific in-depth study carried out at the end of the 1930s. The work was directed and partly revised by Raffaele De Vico, who also carried out the restoration of the theatre, based on a project by Michele Busiri Vici. Along the avenue that begins at Porta Romana are rows of imposing plane trees and eucalyptus trees. In the areas peripheral to the excavations, where the roots of the trees did not endanger buried structures, one can see a natural lawn with groups of trees, pines, cypresses and holm oaks, appropriately arranged. The tree masses form a backdrop to the profile of the archaeological remains. In addition to the disappeared alignments of the wall structures, mixed geometric hedges have been placed, while inside the ruins small grassy carpets have been created aligned with one or two flowering shrubs such as oleanders. Lastly, along the streets of the rediscovered town, isolated specimens of cypress and pinion pine, dog rose bushes, oleander and ivy can be seen close to the walls of the houses.
Agreement with
Visit available with the Roma Pass
Description
This was the ancient Roman colony, formed by about 300 citizens of the Voturia tribe. The first nucleus was a rectangular, military fortress, with walls of large tufa blocks. Remains of the walls have been found around the later Forum. From here the city began to enlarge. During the age of Sulla (between the second and the first century BC) a new and larger wall was built. During the age of Augustus Ostia began to have a monumental look. The theatre and the large piazza [then piazzale delle Corporazioni] behind it date back to this period. Under Tiberius or Caligula the city was endowed with an aqueduct and public baths. Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) started the construction of an artificial harbour, a few kilometres to the north of Ostia. Supplies from all over the empire were moved to small boats that sailed up the Tiber to Rome. Under Trajan and Hadrian (second century AD) Ostia was at its best. Trajan built a second basin behind the basin of Claudius, thus solving the problem of good supply for Rome. The addition of the harbour district led to a building boom and great prosperity in Ostia. Under Trajan were built the Curia, the Basilica and the Forum, large stores, houses for the middle classes and numerous baths. Under the reign of Hadrian (117-138 d.C.) the square of the Forum was rebuilt and the huge Capitolium was erected. He gave impulse to an imposing town planning with the building of a district for the stores near the Tiber, a district of services in the Region II with the baths of Neptune and the fire-fighters barracks, and a residential district south-west. Under Hadrian were erected several-storey buildings (insulae). The presence of citizens from all over the empire caused the spreading of different eastern worship cults and under Antoninus Pius many Mithraeums were erected. Around the third century, the city suffered a first crises: some public buildings and many insulae were abandoned. At the end of the fourth century there was an apparent light upturn, as proven by some inscriptions concerning public works, but at the beginning of the fifth century a second and definitive crises took place: many buildings were abandoned and buried. The last phases of Ostia before its collapse can be dated back to the middle of the fifth century and seem to coincide with an abandon of Ostia due to the Vandal invasion (455 AD); from the restoration of the Terme di Porta Marina under Theodoricus (493-526 AD) we understand that the abandonment of Ostia has been gradual and definitive only in the ninth century.
Keywords
Educational activities