Ancient Ostia private tour. Exclusive Private Guided Tours of Ancient Ostia. Visit the best preserved Ancient Roman Port with our official tour guides and Tickets. TOUR SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN
Ancient Ostia private tour | Depart from Rome with your guide, passing the old Ostiense Gate, the ancient city walls erected by Emperor Aurelian in 270 AD, and the colossal marble Pyramid of Caio Cestius dating from 1st century BC. After 12 miles, reach Ostia Antica Excavations, situated at the mouth of the River Tiber on the Mediterranean coast, and visit the maritime port of ancient Rome. Only rediscovered in the 19th century and mainly excavated from the 1920s to 1940s, Ostia was founded probably in the 7th century BC for salt extraction from marshy swamps. Still, later in the 4th century BC, it became a military and naval port protecting the Tiber access to Rome.
With Rome’s growing power, it became a thriving and vital commercial port that for centuries imported wheat, grain, foodstuffs, luxurious exotic goods, spices, multicolored marbles, Egyptian obelisks, and innumerable wild animals for the amphitheater games from Africa and Asia. The inhabitants were traders, shipbuilders, mariners, warehouse workmen, slaves, public officials, and wealthy patrician families, all busily engaged in intensive commerce and transportation over sea, river, and land. Many freedmen and slaves were of different origins, languages, and religions: Greeks, Phoenicians, Iberians, Gallic, Egyptians, Frisians, and recently a Synagogue dating from 1st century BC was unearthed.
The superb typical Mediterranean setting of the excavations, covered with majestic umbrella pines and cypresses, is as fascinating as Pompeii but without crowds and just 20 minutes out of Rome. 34 hectares have been excavated from when it suddenly became a ghost town when an epochal flood changed the course of the Tiber. With intriguing and entertaining explanations recounted by your erudite guide, you will experience how life was in this ancient seaport, discover various types of dwellings and tenement-flats (insulae) of the middle and lower classes and visit residences of the wealthy during your stroll along the network of intact streets.
Ancient Ostia Tour – Explore, with our official tour guides, the interiors of temples, Roman baths, shops, mills, taverns, and public cloakroom, all with vivid mosaic floors, frescoed walls, stuccoed decorations, and statues, rendering the traveler a whole idea of the rampant frenetic life of the port. Return to Rome by the swift highway.
Ancient Ostia tour, Visit the best of ancient Ostia, Rome in half day guided tour, Ancient Ostia sightseeing tour. The official guided tour of Ancient Ostia.
| MEETING POINT: | At your hotel or other agreed spot in Rome |
| MEETING TIME: | At 09.00 a.m. (Suggested) or other agreed time. |
| GROUP SIZE: | That of your party |
Ancient Ostia Tour is not available on Monday
Ancient Ostia Tour rates per person include the above walking/driven tour plus air-conditioned Limousine, minivan or other means of transport, personal tour guide, driver, tax, and skip-the-line entrances.
Rates and Itineraries are personalized.
Ancient Ostia Tour is available only in a limousine, mini-van, or other means of transport.
- Limousine up to 3 passengers plus guide and driver
- For more than 3 passengers, a minivan will be used
- Privileged entrance. No waiting!
- Ancient Ostia tour suitable for children, for disabled if with a wheelchair on request.
