Two questions about Ostia Antica
 

We are planning to go to Ostia Antica on our last day in Italy next fall, and I would like to find some more detailed information about it. My husband is interested because it means a day outdoors away from the city, and I think he would like it more if he knew more about the history and the buildings before we go. (He found the Bargello in Florence more interesting because I made him read the description in the Michelin Guide) Do you have suggestions where to find more than travel guide level information?

Also, if we want to take a lunch, where is a good place to buy it near the entrance? We'd be happy with panini and fruit.

Travel guide info is good background-try the library for more in depth descriptions. In Rome, you can buy small books with overlay pages that show what Ostia Antica looked like in it's hey-day. We brought our own panini fixings from the Campo dei Fiori and had a picnic in the small Roman amphitheater on the grounds. The weather was still lovely in the beginning of November. There is also a cafe with decent looking food, wine, coffee. The trip is easy on the metro-chang trains at Piramide.

There is a 16-page guide to Ostia Antica here:
http://www.ostia-antica.org/touristguide.pdf

It's part of a whole Web site about Ostia that has a heck of a lot more information about the place than a Michelin Guide would.

That is a great guide Zerlina. They should take note that it is closed on Mondays.

The other site I found helpful was:

http://www.ostia-antica.org/

We had a guide who was absolutely passionate about Ostia Antica, which made such a difference. And, I usually turn up my nose at guides, so had to eat humble pie!

Ostia Antica is more like a state park. There are no food services or much of a town around the entrance. It is very, very low key. This is a so so cafeteria on the river in the back side of the park.

It is easily reachable via public transit. One train change from Termini.

Oops, same site as Zerlina's, different look!

There is a walled town to the right, before you get to the ticket booth of Ostia Antica. We had a decent lunch there.

Two tips for Ostia Scavi: If you take the modern road to the right of the ticket booth entrance as you enter the site, you will much more quickly access the places of great interest in Ostia Antica. You can leave by the "main" antique road, and therefore not miss anything, but entering by the main antique road may leave you too tired to appreciate the many gems that are in the "rear" of the site.

I think the medieval borgo of Ostia Antica (which is the town, while the ruins are actually called Ostia Scavi) is quite a fascination. It's a 15-minute walk from Ostia Scavi.

We always eat at the onsite cafeteria & always find the food good & not expensive.

Julie

On our way from Rome to Ostia Antica we stopped off at the St Paul's Outside the Walls church stop. I can't remember the train station name but we were so glad we did. It's along the route and would probably take up an hour or less of your time.

I was amazed at how beautiful the church was and I have seen more than I need to in Europe. This one is now on the top of my list. Since you'll already be going along the same train line, please consider St Paul's.

When we visited Ostia Antica, we made it a picnic lunch day. Before we left Rome, we stopped at Antico Forno Marco Roscioli, 34 via dei Chiavari, near Campo de’ Fiori, and bought a half-bottle of wine, some cheese (the best bufala mozzarella I've ever had), and picked up pizza bianca from the nearby Il Forno, in the Campo de' Fiori. We picked up some fruit from the market, and we had more than enough food.

Ron in Romes site is full of information, might be of some help.

http://www.roninrome.com/%20sites-an...e-ostia-antica

There are guide books at the book store near the cafeteria to supplement the map and limited information you get at the entrance. Unfortunately you have to walk quite a way into the site to reach this so printing out the guide on the link Zerlina gave would make a lot of sense.

I would buy picnic food in Rome as others have suggested rather than relying on the food near and on the site.

If you take the metro to Ostia Antica, you will go through the Piramide station. It is worth going up to see the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, the Protestant cemetery (Keats' grave is there) and the section of the Aurelian wall.

>>There are guide books at the book store near the cafeteria to supplement the map and limited information you get at the entrance. Unfortunately you have to walk quite a way into the site to reach this<<

You don't have to walk far to reach the cafeteria/bookstore/museum area if you take the modern road to the right of the site entrance.

If you want good picnic food, try the legendary Volpetti, which is precisely in the neighborhood where you catch the train from Rome to Ostia Antica:

http://www.volpetti.com/index.php?li...glese&ferma=OK

If you want a tasty sit down meal in a very atmospheric place, try Il Monumento, in Ostia Antica.

http://www.ristorantemonumento.it/principale-eng.htm

The cafeteria was good IMO There are tables outside to sit.

It is well worth the day to see the ruins. Just be sure to come back to Rome before the rush hour. The trains and metros are packed. We had to wait through 3 trains to get on one to Termini. The 3 of us finally split up so we could get on as 3 together was impossible.

brats, so what would be the best time to leave Ostia Antica to avoid the rush?

I have been watching the lectures from a course at Yale on ancient Roman architecture. They are available for free at http://oyc.yale.edu/history-of-art/roman-architecture. I wish I had done this before going to Rome because now I feel I have to go back to understand everything much better than I did when I was there.

Ostia is mentioned, but there is much about buildings in Rome, Pompeii, Herculaneum and other sites in and out of Italy, with all sorts of information about the development of the architectural styles and styles of painting and decoration as well.

I think the cafeteria inside the site is the way to go. It is a modern facility, with tables outside on a nice patio, as well as inside. The bookstore is there as well, and restrooms. It provided a nice, comfortable rest stop. I don't know where we would have picnicked as comfortably.

here's a link to monicapileggi's photo's she recently posted if that will be of help.


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ember-2009.cfm

thanks, everyone. We will be traveling with our luggage as we are leaving from FCO the next morning and will be dropping it off at the B&B where we are staying overnight, so i don't think we will be able to bring lunch from Rome. Probably using the cafe inside the park would be our best bet.