If you have time step*right outside
the station and see the Pyramid of Cestius c.18-12BC and the Ostia Gate & walls from
AD 271-5, or visit the Protestant Cemetery.
Board the train and to ease your mind look above the
door and see the train stop map. Ostia Antica is perhaps in 5 or 6 stops, about 25minutes.
At the Ostia Antica, stop when you first get off the train, just across the tracks will be
the small station. Just to the left is a w.c & water faucet, and ~30M away in front of
the station is a blue pedestrian overpass that you want to take.
Exit the platform via the pedestrian tunnel and into the
station. Just walk over the highway on the walkway and go straight. In about 100m you
cross a 2 lane road and the parking lot for the site is 50m in front of you. In the
parking lot the ticket booth (w.c.) & entrance is 50m to the left. Tickets are
8000L and I suggest getting the audio guide (8000L. They required a picture ID (good
reason to have your driver's license with you), not a credit card).
Also have on hand or buy a guidebook and map of the
site. Don't forget to visit the museum (w.c.) (to the back, right of the site). Also be
sure to bring water or even better pack a small picnic lunch and have a quiet picnic in
any of the hundreds of secluded out of the way spots.
After the audio guide tour is over be certain to visit
the western end of the site. You can walk around so alone among the maze-like buildings
and paths and make amazing discoveries on your own. I like the area in the V section of
the Decumanus Maximus and via Della Foce. Look for a 2 story building that you can climb
on top of in this area (good view). That particular area has some excellent areas to
explore and find mosaics, frescos and some pretty cool rooms.
One overlooked really cool site is under the Baths of
Mithras where the "Mithras and the Bull" statue was found, now in the museum but
replaced by a copy. On the main road thru the site (Decumanus Maximus) ~75m west of the
Capitolium/Forum area, you come upon a main intersection. There is a road (90deg) to your
left & right and the main road goes straight but at a slight left angle. At a 45deg
angle to your right there is a road/path; take it.
You will see on the right two red tile covered,
protected sites followed by five trees in a row. Take a right after the fifth tree. You
will come upon the Baths on your right (it's the last ruin, 2 columns and a taller lone
column with a capital on top.)
Now see the short (3 sections, 1m high) modern cast iron
fence (NW corner of the Baths). Below that is the entrance to under the baths and statue.
If you walk past the statue there is a maze-like tunnel that takes you under the baths,
and you can see how they operated.
Copyright © 2001 Walter
Published July 13, 2001
Walter is a truck driver with a love for history and
museums. He's a unique traveler in the detailed way in which he captures directions so
others may enjoy where he has been as well.
You can reach Walter at
