Ostia
There are two Ostia: crowded bathing beach, the so-called Lido di Ostia, which is better to avoid and one of the most beautiful ancient Roman monuments, excavations in the port of Ostia Antica, which are equal to the attractions of Rome and it is worth spending a few hours' trip on them.
Lido di Ostia
LIDO DI OSTIA, traveled thirty minutes by train from Stazione Ostiense near Porta San Paolo, it was the number one bathing site in Rome for many years and suffered accordingly. The beaches have a very bad reputation: cluttered, over equally dirty water, divided into private sections with expensive bars, where you have to pay admission.
The city itself is more of a Roman bridgehead, and nothing special to recommend here. If you want a bath, it's really better to move on, for example to ANZIO or NETTUNO, where you go from Rome only half an hour longer.
Ostia Antica
ANCIENT HOSTIA, located one stop before Lido di Ostia, it was ancient Rome's main commercial port, and Antica prospered. Excavations (codz. 9.00-18.00; 4000 L) are visited relatively rarely; back in the seventies, the excavation site was only open once a week and few people knew, that the port was perfectly preserved by the Tiber sludge. Still not many tourists come here, although in Ostia it is easier to imagine the shape of an ancient Roman city than from the rubble of crusts around the Roman Forum.
The excavation site is very extensive, so you have to prepare yourself for a lot of walking. From the entrance to the east leads the Decumanus Maximus, main street of Ostia, leading near the Baths of Neptune on the right (where there is an interesting mosaic) to the city mall, due to the surviving remains of shops and commercial offices known as Piazzale di Corporazione. The offices here represented companies from all over the ancient world, and the mosaics on the front symbolize the cultivated crafts or trade - grain merchants, schooners, rope makers, itd.
The square is completely renovated, impressive theater, expanded in the 2nd century AD. by Septym Severus to 4000 places. On the left there is the House of Apulius with preserved floor and dark mosaics, a multi-nave mit-raneum with mosaics illustrating this cult. Behind the House of Apulius is Casa di Diana (which is reached next to numerous remains of horrea, that is, once ubiquitous warehouses), Probably the best preserved house in Ostia, with the blind team, mysterious halls grouped around a central courtyard and a mitraneum at the rear. You can climb onto the roof, from where there is a beautiful view of the excavation site, and then cross the street to Termopolium - an old Roman cafe with tables outside, high counter, display shelves, and even menu fragments in the murals.
North of Casa di Diana is a museum (codz. 9.00-13.00 i 14.00-18.00) collecting various items from the excavation site, including murals of family life in Ostia, and some beautiful sarcophagi and statues. On the left is the forum centered around the Capitol building, accessed by long stairs, and nearby are the walls of the thermal baths and the basilica. Further down the main street you can see (on the right) another well-preserved horrea with pediments and names carved in marble; although it is impossible to go inside, you can peek into the courtyard. A little further there is the House of Cupid and Psyche with a courtyard open to tourists and well-preserved halls visible on one side and a colored marble floor on the other.