Meet your driver on the pier and begin the approximately one hour drive along the coast to reach the beautifully preserved ruins of Ostia Antica (Ancient Ostia). The site has also been called the "Better Pompeii" as it was a working port town of 60,000 people representing a more complete look at Roman life than wealthy Pompeii. Ostia was Imperial Rome's historic port, whose name is derived from the Latin word ostium which literally means mouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Tiber, it was the military and commercial seaport of Rome. In Ancient Times, the main streets of Ostia were lined with shops, warehouses, inns, bars, brothels and baths crowded with sailors and merchants from all the corners of the empire. Today, due to silting, the site is two miles from the coast.
Taking a stroll along the Decumanus Maximus, Ostia's main street, you may visit the Baths of Neptune with its fabulous 55 by 36-foot mosaic of the sea god and the amphitheater, erected in 12 B.C., with its well preserved series of steep semicircular stone bleachers that held 3,500 spectators. You will see the Mill and Bakery dating from Roman times, the Forum that was the center of the city, the Capitolium, the temple of Rome and Augustus, the Basilica and the large thermal baths. Near the Forum square you will see the House of Diana and the Thermopolium, an ancient Roman bar with a marble counter and a fresco depicting the fruit and foodstuffs that were sold there. At the end of Via dei Dipinti, a museum displays some of the ancient sculptures unearthed at Ostia. After your tour, your driver will return you to the pier.
