Liberty Lyceum Travel

Here’s one for the Latin and Roman history enthusiasts! One of our day trips from Rome was to Ostia Antica (see map). Ostia was the old port of Rome on the Mediterranean, situated where the Tiber River (which runs through Rome) met the sea. Two thousand years of river silt have accumulated, so that it’s now about 2 miles inland. It’s a major archaeological site, because the town was abandoned in the years following the fall of the Roman empire, leaving it a time capsule of sorts.

Miss C and Roberta at the theater

Much of the marble facing its buildings, as well as many of its statues, columns, and other architectural elements, were looted over the years and used in other buildings. However, many of the statues unearthed in excavations are now included in the museum on-site. We weren’t able to take photos inside the museum, but we did photograph some finds from Ostia inside the Vatican Museums (post about that still to come).

What’s left in the open is the structure of an ancient Roman city, one that was a major trading port on the Mediterranean. There is a forum, numerous public baths, the remains of a tavern and a food court of sorts (thermopolium), and a necropolis (burial ground) outside the gates of the city, as Roman law decreed it must be. There are many tiled floors on the site, from the public baths and from inside many of the buildings.

There is an excellent Web site for Ostia Antica, in which there are multiple pages documenting the various structures on the site. Also very helpful is a video showing a computer reconstruction of Ostia and a really good one showing the museum’s holdings superimposed on the ruins you can visit.

Here are our photos from our visit, with much less documentation than I usually provide, due to the enormity of the project and not enough time to explain it all! Hopefully it’s a helpful glimpse at what is available in Ostia Antica, a very interesting site for those who like ancient history. I’d recommend the Slideshow view of the photos.

After 2 weeks in Rome, Italy, my mom, my daughter, and I decided to venture out into the countryside. We took a regional train to Tivoli, Italy, about an hour outside Rome via train (see map). It was a beautiful day and the perfect ending to our time in Italy together!

Jennifer and Miss C at Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Italy

I’ve abandoned all hope of chronological reporting here. From the time my husband Neil joined us in Spain in late April, I’ve fallen further and further behind on blog posts and photos! The good news is that it’s because we’ve been so busy having fun together. Neil spent two weeks with us in Spain, and then Miss C and I flew to Rome, where we were joined by my mom for two weeks. Now Miss C and I are in London, but I’ll nevertheless tell you about the adventures we had in Italy and Spain that I haven’t yet shared.

When we arrived in Tivoli, walking into town from the train station, we were at first diverted from our main destination by a sign for Parco Villa Gregoriana. The opening gate sign had photos and descriptions that enticed us to spend some time exploring this gorgeous mountainside park, and we were very glad we did.

Roberta and Miss C, Parco Villa Gregoriana, Tivoli

The park, which is built into the sides of mountains extending down to a ravine carved by the Aniene River, has a long history. The land was used by ancient peoples and later was the site of Roman villas, and even later, a Renaissance villa. It was mentioned by illustrious writers such as Pliny the Younger, Horace, and later, Goethe. Because the Aniene River caused disastrous flooding over the centuries, in the 1800s, Pope Gregory XVI directed a massive engineering project that carved tunnels into the hillside to manage it. This created waterfalls throughout the space, part of the design to make it a huge public park in the process of managing the water issues. It worked amazingly well on both fronts. One of the waterfalls was designed by the famous Italian sculptor, Bernini (he also designed two fountains in Piazza Navona). The park is full of natural caves as well as the carved tunnels. After a period of decline in the twentieth century, the park was renovated through private funds in recent years. We really enjoyed our time there — see our photos.

After a delicious lunch, we headed to our original destination for the day — Villa d’Este. This is a beautiful Renaissance villa built by Cardinal Ippolito Il D’Este, who had wanted to become pope, in the late 1500s. When his dreams of the papacy were dashed, he decided to create his own version of Rome here, in beautiful fountains in the garden and paintings on all the walls and ceilings of the villa. There are over 500 fountains in the gardens, many of them using ancient Roman statuary taken from Hadrian’s Villa, which is not far away in the valley. (Hadrian was an important Roman emperor, and the ruins of his villa are also a major destination in this area.)

Many of Villa d’Este’s fountains are very naturalistic, in sharp contrast to the polished columns and statuary common in Renaissance times. The estate harks back to classical times as well as to a pastoral ideal. In the 1800s, the composer Franz Liszt lived here for years, composed many of his greatest works here, and praised the “great silences, peacefulness, mild climate, beautiful landscapes, and pleasant promenades” of Villa d’Este and Tivoli itself.

We weren’t able to take photos of the many painted walls and ceilings inside the villa, but we do have photos of many of the beautiful fountains and gardens. Please take a look.