NB: The Audio Guide has temporarily been discontinued...
...but you can read my printable guide HERE
(3-D computer generated illustrations by Marzia Vinci)

'Salve! I'm Gaius Vetius Optatus!' says a gravelly voice. 'I was a muleteer when Hadrian was Emperor...' So begins the excellent audio guide to Ostia Antica
left: the Roman Gate

If you are planning a visit to the site of Rome's ancient port and Flavia's hometown, I would highly recommend the new audio guide.

Available in English as well as Italian, you can rent one at the ticket kiosk. It costs only 4.13 euros, about £3 or $5.

Last summer when I visited Ostia Antica with some friends, we hired a real guide for two hours. The cost was about 80 euros, or £55. Our guide was pleasant and well-informed. But an eleven-year-old boy in our group was soon bored and wandered off to explore by himself. I think he would have preferred the audio guide.

In fact, the real guide was slightly less informative... and she didn't last all day!

The audio guide is like a walkman. You can turn it off and on, rewind it, skip to the end, etc, for as long as you want it. I kept mine from 9.00 until about 2.30 pm. You are 'shown around the site' by a variety of different characters played by excellent English actors. There are fun sound effects: like carriage wheels, music, chanting and fountains splashing.

In addition, the directions on the audio guide are clear and easy to follow.

Here are some of my highlights from the tour:

Optatus the cart-driver takes me to a part of the tombs outside the Roman Gate which I haven't been to before, even though this is my third or fourth trip to Ostia!
right: the Decumanus Maximus, Ostia's main road

The cultured voice of a vigile (fireman) named Aulus Egrilius Urbicus guides me to the Baths of Claudius and the Firemen's Barracks.

An engineer named Lucius Antonius Peculiaris explains how water was brought to Ostia and 'shows' me the hypocaust in the Baths of Neptune.

Drusilla the slave girl used to work in the baths as a hairdresser. The wealthy women were nice to her and one day one of them left Drusilla an inheritance. Now she is a freedwoman who goes into noble ladies' homes to do their hair. That's a nice touch!
left: bird's eye view of the Forum Baths.

As I approach Ostia's best known 'caupona' on the via della casa di Diana, a jolly voice on the guide says 'Come on in! Call me Florus! Looks like a regular snack bar, doesn't it?' A cheerful chap, Florus explains that 'most people in this neighbourhood lived in insula apartment houses and didn't have kitchens...'

At the Forum of the Corporations I meet Quintus Julius Taurus, an agent for the importing of grain. He mentions the other items which passed through Ostia: olive oil, wine, rare marbles, paper, honey, ivory, fruit, exotic animals for the games, etc.

Proculus the mosaic-maker tells me how he learned his craft and finishes with a nice touch: 'By the time I bought my freedom, I was an old man of 45!'

NB: The Audio Guide has temporarily been discontinued... ...but you can read my printable guide HERE (3-D computer generated illustrations by Marzia Vinci)

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NB: The Audio Guide has temporarily been discontinued...
...but you can read my printable guide HERE
(3-D computer generated illustrations by Marzia Vinci)