UNA GITA: ostia antica

when i labelled this post 'rome-ing around... the rest of italy', i was really living up to my exaggerative reputation. ostia antica is as much 'the rest of italy' to rome as the uffizi is to florence. what i mean by this, is that you can reach ostia antica with a 1 euro metro ticket and a 20 minute train ride from piramide station on the blue line. molto facile. thus, i couldn't bring myself to title this post 'MINI-BREAK' but have instead entitled it 'UNA GITA' or 'A TRIP'; much more appropriate.

in mary beard's much talked about recent bbc series entitled meet the romans (mainly commented on by a. a. gill with regards to his controversial opinion of beard's appearance as a television presenter) , she takes a day trip to this well-preserved ancient harbour town which, in its heyday, formed strong and important connections between rome and the rest of its empire. [just a quick NB at this point, i was shocked to hear that italy imported ALL of its olive oil in ancient times? spain and north africa were the suppliers for this; and along with wood, leather, grain and dye, rome received this from its neighbouring town, ostia]. beard had significantly hyped up the city for me, telling me that it is unique in an every-day-roman-life aspect as opposed to the splendours of the imperial monuments and buldings that are dispersed throughout rome. now i don't know if it is because i have recently visited pompeii and herculaneum, or whether ruins have now become as mundane to me as zebra crossings, but i liked ostia; i didn't LOVE it. but i know that this is just because i am spoilt. from an objective perspective, for the 'ruin virgin' (...sounds a bit odd) it is a fantastic spot. a quiet, bird-tweety haven just outside of italy's version of bradford (ostia, the modern town, is reputed to be far from beautiful). its size and preservation in relation to its proximity to rome shocked me and certainly humbled what i thought was a sightseeing addiction, making me feel embarassed that this was the first time i had been here in seven months.

the incredible condition of the scavi did make me think, in relation to pompeii and herculaneum, how much difference actually did the lava preservation make to the towns? obviously they were anomalous in that they had been untouched since 79AD when excavations started (whereas ostia was extended, developed and inhabited up until the 18th century), but what we have with ostica antica is a roman town, not dissimilar to those that lay in the shadows of vesuvius; just minus the fiorelli casts and preserved eggs and loaves of bread. a strong hint to humankind's morbid interest as opposed to it's historical curiosity me thinks...

highlights for me involved morphing oneself into a statue by standing behind those beheaded by the papacy on the via delle tombe, the theatrical masks by the theatre, the insulae (or apartment blocks) which enable one to see the cramped living conditions for the majority of roman people, and of course the mosaics for which ostia is famous. unfortunately the large, impressive mosaics in the baths of neptune were covered by large sheets of tarpaulin, leaving the (albeit fantastic) mosaics in the portico by the theatre to constitute ostia's whole mosaic collection. the piste de resistance however, were the latrines. mary beard famously sits on these and talks about the romans 'all s****** together'. i thought i'd give it a go...

so all in all, i give ostia 7/10. a fantastic escape from rome's busy-ness (but then so are the baths of caracalla?), easy to get to, culturally enlightening and a great place to get some photos for the family album...

for both historical and practical information on the site, visit Ostia Antica. to watch mary beard's meet the romans, visit BBC iPlayer/Meet the Romans (only available to residents of the UK).