Packing List for Ostia Antica: What Women Should Bring

Photograph: Roman brick ruins under umbrella pines at Ostia Antica by Radoslaw Botev, CC BY 3.0 pl, via Wikimedia Commons.

Ostia Antica is the excavated harbour city of ancient Rome, at the old mouth of the Tiber about 25 kilometres south west of the capital, and it makes an easy day out from the city by suburban train. The name comes from the Latin for mouth. Silt from the river has pushed the coastline out over the centuries, so the ruins now lie about 3 kilometres from the sea they were built to serve.

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Sand dunes covered the city after it was abandoned, and that is why so much of it survives. Its preservation is ranked behind only Pompeii and Herculaneum, and like Pompeii it shows the ordinary fabric of a Roman town, streets, shops, apartments, baths and bars, that you cannot see inside Rome itself. What it asks of you is a long day on foot across open ground, and that is what this packing list is built around.

Ostia Antica Is Not Lido di Ostia

Two places share the name, and confusing them is the most common way this trip goes wrong. Ostia Antica is the archaeological site. Ostia, officially Lido di Ostia, is a large modern district of the city of Rome on the Tyrrhenian coast and is the city's seaside resort, with beaches, bathing establishments, restaurants and a marina. The modern resort sits about 5 kilometres south west of the ancient city.

The modern district is young. It was founded in 1884 after the surrounding marshland, which was infested with malarial mosquitoes, was drained, and it became the Romans' favourite sea resort once the Rome to Ostia railway opened in 1924. Both places are served by the same line, now called the Metromare, which runs out from Roma Porta San Paolo, beside Piramide on Metro line B. The stop for the ruins is called Ostia Antica. The stops called Lido Nord, Lido Centro and Stella Polare are the beach district. If you are coming for the ruins, get off at Ostia Antica and do not stay on to the sea.

The two can be combined in one day, ruins in the morning and a swim in the afternoon. Rome's Fiumicino airport is also close, about 10 kilometres north of modern Ostia.

What Is Here

Ostia was Rome's port for grain and goods coming up the coast, and by the 2nd century AD it is estimated to have held around 50,000 people. It had a large theatre, many public and private baths, numerous taverns and inns and a firefighting service. Eighteen shrines to the god Mithras have been found here. Ostia also contained the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe, and Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine, died here in 387 on the way home to Africa.

The theatre is the place most people head for first. Agrippa had it built between 18 and 12 BC, and directly beside it is the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, the square of the trading corporations, where merchants dealt in everything from grain and shipping services to elephants and giraffes. In front of each office is a black and white floor mosaic showing the trade of the business that worked there, and walking round the square reading them is one of the best things to do in the whole site.

The main street, the decumanus maximus, runs on the line of the Via Ostiense from Rome, and the narrow forum at the centre of the town is dominated at one end by Hadrian's Capitolium, the temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Around them are the insulae, multi-storey apartment blocks with shops opening onto the street at ground level, which are the buildings that make Ostia feel like a town rather than a monument. Finds from the excavations are kept on site in the Museo Ostiense.

The photograph above shows almost none of that. It shows a corner of the excavations in summer: low brick walls, umbrella pines and a lawn with a few column shafts. There is no theatre in it, no mosaic, no Capitolium and no apartment block, and the museum is not in it either. There is also a short run of orange barrier mesh at the right edge, which is a fair reminder that this is a working site: it has been estimated that two thirds of the ancient town is still unexcavated, and parts of what is open are fenced off for work at any given time.

How Ostia Antica Differs from Pompeii

Readers who know Pompeii will find Ostia familiar in kind and different in feel. It is a short suburban train ride from Rome rather than a journey south to the Bay of Naples. There is no volcano: Ostia was not buried in an afternoon but slowly abandoned, by the 9th century AD, and then covered by sand. That means the buildings tell a longer and less dramatic story, and the site is a city that wound down rather than one frozen in a single moment.

It also means the stone has been taken. The ruins were used for centuries as a quarry for marble for the palaces of Rome, so what you walk through is largely the brick core of the town with much of its finer facing gone. And the history did not stop. In 68 BC the town was sacked by pirates who set the port on fire, destroyed the consular war fleet and kidnapped two prominent senators, and much later a great flood in 1557 diverted the Tiber away from a fortress built to guard it. Massive excavations were undertaken here under Mussolini between 1939 and 1942, until the war stopped them.

The practical difference that matters for packing is the pines. Umbrella pines grow through much of the site, as the photograph shows, and they give real shade in places that Pompeii does not have. But it is patchy shade, between open stretches of lawn and paving where there is nothing over you at all, so it lowers the heat of the day without removing it.

The Walk, the Ground and the Heat

Ostia Antica is a full day on your feet, and most of it is outdoors. The site is large and spread out, and a quick look turns into several hours very easily, so allow a full day and carry food.

The ground is the part people underestimate. The streets are old paving with deep ruts and gaps between the stones, thresholds and doorsteps sit at different heights, and between buildings you are walking on grass, dust and loose rubble. Low walls and broken steps are everywhere and there are very few handrails. After rain the stone is slippery and the grass is wet. None of this is dangerous if you are watching your feet, and almost all of it is a problem in thin sandals.

Heat is the other thing. On a clear summer day an open ruin field reflects the sun back up off brick and stone, and the walk between one patch of shade and the next is longer than it looks. This post prints no temperature, because none of the sources used here gives one.

Water is the single most important thing to carry in summer. Do not assume you will find enough to buy at the far end of the site, and drink before you are thirsty.

Recommended Tours and Experiences

Is Ostia Antica Safe for Women Travelers

Ostia Antica is a quiet, open archaeological site inside the city of Rome, and it is an easy day out for a woman on her own. The phrase "advise against" appears nowhere on the FCDO's landing page or safety page for Italy, and neither page names Ostia.

US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.

UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.

The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip.

The FCDO's crime warning applies here in its ordinary form: crime levels are generally low but there is more petty crime, particularly bag-snatching and pickpocketing, in city centres and at major tourist attractions. On the train out of Rome and at the station that matters more than inside the ruins. Keep your bag closed and in front of you on a crowded carriage.

Two other lines from the FCDO are worth knowing for this trip. Transport strikes are often called at short notice, and a strike day on the Metromare can leave you without your train back, so check before you set out and know what the alternative is. If you need a taxi, use only officially licensed ones with a roof sign and a company name and number on the side. If you combine the ruins with an evening at the beach district, the FCDO's drink spiking warning is the one to keep in mind: do not take drinks from strangers or leave yours unattended.

The site itself has rules that a ruin field invites you to forget. The FCDO notes that local laws may prohibit sitting on monument steps, eating and drinking next to historic monuments, and damaging them in any way. At an archaeological site the signs are the rules: stay off fenced areas, do not climb on walls, and eat where the site allows it. Police can also stop you at any time for an identity check, so carry photo ID.

The real physical risks are a turned ankle on uneven stone and heat exhaustion in summer. In the extended summer months the FCDO also notes that wildfires are a risk and asks visitors to take care in woodland, which is relevant here because there is pine woodland around the site and along the coast. Report any fire to the emergency services.

Many parts of Italy lie on a major seismic fault line and the FCDO notes that minor tremors and earthquakes happen regularly. Learn what to do before, during and after one.

The Ostia Antica Packing List

Pack for a long walk in sun and patchy shade, on uneven ground, with a train at each end.

A merino wool base layer is the foundation, and in heat the reason is the one people do not expect: fine merino moves sweat off your skin rather than holding it the way cotton does, so you stay drier and cooler across a long afternoon in the sun, and it does not smell of the day by evening. In spring and autumn it is the layer that handles the cool morning train and the warm middle of the day without being changed.

Over it, a long sun hoodie for the open stretches between the pines, and a wide brim sun hat. Covering your arms and neck is more comfortable than repeatedly reapplying cream on a site where you are walking for hours.

Footwear is the decision that most affects the day: closed shoes with grip. Hiking shoes with a proper sole handle rutted paving, rubble and wet grass far better than sandals, and protect your toes. Pair them with merino hiking socks, which cushion a long day and keep your feet dry in hot shoes.

Carry water in an insulated water bottle that keeps it cold through the afternoon. It is a large bottle, which is the point on a hot day at a site where you should not rely on buying more.

For a winter visit, a packable rain jacket earns its place, because there is little cover between buildings when a shower comes through. That brings this post to six product links, which is our limit, so the daypack is not linked: carry a small, comfortable bag that closes, since you will be wearing it all day.

Sunscreen and sunglasses are both advised and neither is linked, because our affiliate register carries no sunscreen and no eyewear entry at all. Glare off pale stone and dry grass in summer is strong.

If you plan to finish at the beach in Lido di Ostia, add a swimsuit and something light to dry off with.

Essential Resources for Women Visiting Ostia Antica

Emergency numbers: 112 is the single European emergency number and works throughout Italy; 118 reaches the ambulance service directly.

Hospitals: Ostia Antica and Lido di Ostia are both inside the comune of Rome, so you are within the city's hospital network rather than in the countryside. In an emergency call 112 or 118 and go to the nearest pronto soccorso, the emergency department, rather than trying to get back to central Rome on the train.

Official health authority: the Ministero della Salute, the Italian health ministry, covers national guidance, including what an EU or UK health card does and does not cover.

US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Rome.

Official tourism authority: ENIT, the Italian national tourist board, covers the national picture. For current opening times, tickets and which parts of the excavations are open, use the site's own information on the day rather than anything printed here.

US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.

UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.

Italy is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as an Italian resident. That means the same ticket, the co-payment Italians make, rather than nothing, and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. Italian public hospitals are good and the emergency department, the pronto soccorso, treats anyone who arrives. Pharmacies, farmacie, are marked with a green cross, are staffed by pharmacists who can advise and dispense for minor problems, and post a rota for nights and Sundays on the door. Tap water is drinkable across the country, including from the public fountains that are common in Italian towns.

Solo women safety assessment: Ostia Antica is a calm and straightforward place to visit alone. It is an open archaeological site inside the city of Rome, reached by suburban train, Italy has no advised-against area, and the FCDO names nothing here. The ordinary Italian risks are petty theft on transport and at busy attractions, strikes at short notice, and drink spiking in the evening. The risks specific to this place are physical: uneven stone and rubble underfoot, long open stretches in strong sun with patchy shade, and the temptation to underestimate how far you will walk. Closed shoes, plenty of water, a covered head, and a plan for getting back if the trains stop.

Reading On

The Rome packing list is the companion to this one, since Rome is where nearly everyone stays and Ostia is a day out from it, and the Rome travel guide for women covers the city itself. For the comparison drawn above, the Pompeii packing list covers the buried city on the Bay of Naples. Other days out from Rome in this library include Tivoli and its villas, the lake at Bracciano, and Orvieto, and further down the same Lazio coast are Anzio and Sperlonga. The Italy travel guide for women is the hub, and the travel packing guide covers the system this list is built on.

If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.

For why merino beats cotton on a hot day of walking, see our guide to the best merino wool base layers for women, and the full range is in the Roman Trail collection.