Borgo di Ostia Antica, like a history book

What it is and where it is

Along the Via del Mare, a short walk from Ostia and opposite the archaeological park of the same name, lies the small, surprising Borgo di Ostia Antica. The suburb grew up around a Christian basilica dedicated to Saint Aurea martyr in the 9th century, when Pope Gregory IV wanted to build a fortification against Saracen raids. It was called Gregoriopolis. Its present appearance, with its terraced houses, walls, castle and keep, dates instead from the 15th century, when the village took on an important role in controlling river traffic on the last stretch of the Tiber and because of the presence of the salt pans.

Why it is special

The succession of centuries and their events can be read in the stones of the houses and monuments, as if they were the pages of a book. This is precisely the magic of Ostia Antica. In the walls, fragments of funerary decorations, remains of sarcophagi, and a funerary altar refer to the Christian necropolis that stood in this area in Roman times. Coats of arms on the Keep and castle curtain testify to the presence of important popes. And the memory of the marshes and malaria is alive in the monument to the "Scariolanti," the laborers from Ravenna who reclaimed the marshes of the Littoral at the end of the 19th century.