The Mosaic and Marble Floors of Ostia Antica

We spent two days at Ostia Antica and in this post we’ll show a couple of the mosaic and marble floors we photographed. With links in the caption of the images you can go to the http://www.ostia-antica.org/ site and go into research about what the buildings were like that housed these floors. In general, we are adopting the naming for regio, insula, and room as given on the http://www.ostia-antica.org/ site. In this entry we are just showing the wonder of the floors. For more details on our trip to Ostia see this entry.

Terme del Foro - Deteriorating Floor
 

Piazzale delle Corporazioni - Stadio 54 and 55

Terme dei Sette Sapienti Tepidarium 21 and Round Room 7 

 

Sede degli Augustali 

 

Domus del Protiro - Different Patterned Floors, Marble and Mosaic  

Caupona di Alexander e Helix 

 

Caserma dei Vigili 

 

Terme dei Cisiarii

Terme di Nettuno


Domus di Amore e Psiche


Domus di Giove e Ganimede


Terme di Porta Marina


Terme del bagnino Buticosus


Domus della Fortuna Annonari


Terme dell’Invidioso


Unknown Location - Fragments

Two Days in Ostia Antica

Capitolium


Ostia Antica is an ancient Roman harbor city on the Tiber River. Due to silting and a drop in sea level, Ostia is now located several kilometers inland from the shoreline. The name of the city derives from the Latin “ostium” meaning mouth and referring to its long ago position at the mouth of the Tiber River. In the second and third centuries AD, Ostia was a vibrant city that contained many insulae (large apartment buildings) that functioned much like our modern mixed-used (retail on the ground floor and 2-4 stories of apartments above) structures. One of the best preserved is the Caseggiato di Diana (House of Diana). Scattered throughout Ostia there are mosaic and marble floors, usually associated with the numerous bath complexes found in the ancient city. Exploring the streets and remains of homes, warehouses, baths, and businesses –some still surprisingly intact – is the ultimate in snooping around. Turning a corner and stumbling onto an incredible mosaic floor off the main tourist paths is something quite special. Ostia is spacious (estimates vary, but 170+ acres), so there is plenty of to see; be prepared to wander around and soak up the ambience. In the early, sunny November days we visited in 2010, the ground was carpeted in green. Every step we took seemed to produce fragrant whiffs of mint and other herbs.

Visiting Ostia Antica could easily take two days. We had heard great reviews about it and had originally planned to spend one full day there. After the first day we decided that it was worth spending more time there and so we spent a second day there on our way down to Naples. Both days at Ostia we ate a late lunch at the café inside the archaeological complex and were happy with the price and choice of food. The café is located near the museum which is worth a visit.

Finally, before visiting Ostia it helps to read up on Ostia and Roman history. Two resources that we liked are the Ostia-Antica.org web site and the video The Roman Way of Life and Death at Ostia, the Port of Rome part of a series of Yale courses online. The Ostia-Antica.org web site has a travel guide and lots of other resources about Ostia including links to movies. The captions for some photos here refer back to the Ostia-Antica.org site. For views of different mosaic and marble floors of Ostia, see this entry.

View Over Ruins


Termopolio


Molino (Millstones that look like owls.)


Teatro Theater Mask and Theater



Ostia Antica Brochures

Villa D'Este - Tivoli

Hundred Fountains of Villa d'Este

The Villa D’Este is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the west side of Tivoli overlooking the plain and towards Rome. The villa is considered a masterpiece of late-Renaissance, mannerist-style garden design. Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (1509 - 1572) built the villa between 1550 and 1572 with inspiration and material coming from the nearby Villa Adriana. Villa D’Este was once a Benedictine cloister and is definitely worth spending some time touring; it is part of the general admission. You go through the house to get to the gardens. However, the villa’s star attraction is its terraced garden with pools, fountains, and general waterworks. Some of the wonders there include: the Hundred Fountains (count them if you wish), the Fountain of the Organ (make sure you inquire about the schedule for when it plays) and the Fountain of Diana of Ephesus (Mother Nature). 

The water for the villa comes from a diverted channel of the Aniene River. (If we are not mistaken, Villa D’Este is slightly lower than the bed of the river which makes it relatively easy to get water to the villa.) Speaking of water, visiting Villa Gregoriana in the same day makes a nice day. We toured Villa Gregoriana in the morning, ate lunch, and then toured Villa D’Este in the afternoon so that we ended up in the garden near sunset which is a nice way to see it. We caught the 4:30 show of the Fountain of the Organ. Staying in Tivoli center – which is compact – you can easily walk to Villa D’Este. We stayed in Tivoli (at the Bed & Breakfast Palazzo Maggiore) which was close. On the subject of Tivoli, where did we eat in Tivoli? Here’s what we tried: Terme di Diana, Avec 55, Il Grottino, Il Ciocco, and Ristorante Vino Tinto. We felt that with our sampling we only had so-so food in Tivoli – sorry to say, nothing spectacular except for Avec 55 which was creative and tasty. 

Villa D'Este Brochure and Map


Looking Southwest from the Fountain of the Organ at Villa d'Este

Looking Northeast Over the Fish Ponds Toward the Fountain of the Organ at Villa d'Este


A Face in the Hundred Fountains at Villa d'Este Tivoli


Diana of Ephesus (Mother Nature) at Villa d'Este Tivoli

Villa Gregoriana - Tivoli, Italy

View of the Temples of Vesta and Tiburnus

The first thing to know about Villa Gregoriana is that there isn’t really a villa there. Just wanted to clear that up because we went there expecting that. Silly tourists we are! There was a Roman villa at one time located there and now you visit only some of the basement and foundation. The real attraction of the ‘villa’ is the surrounding park area and the water features. Both the diverted Aniene River and the Bernini Waterfall or Stipa canal (Cascata del Bernini o Canale della Stipa) flow through the park's lush gorge setting. 

The Aniene River was diverted through nearby Mount Catillo in the 1800s to spare Tivoli from further devastating floods. Those diversion tunnels are called the Gregorian Tunnels (or Cunicoli Gregoriani) and you can only currently get a look at them whereas at one time it looks like you could walk into them. The tunnels are so named because the project was authorized and financed by Pope Gregory XVI who, in 1835, watched the opening of the waterfall. The old river bed and the gorge it flowed through are essence of the Villa Gregoriana park. In the course of the old river bed, the other water feature of the park, the Bernini waterfall, flows. This water flows briefly underground creating a natural bridge called the Ponto Lupo Clearing.

We entered Villa Gregoriana at the Largo Sant’Angelo entrance of the park and exited at the Piazza Tempio di Vesta. Finding the entrances can be a little tricky. The attached brochure shows all the itineraries. We especially enjoyed the Grotta della Sirene, Grotta di Nettuno, and the Miollis Tunnel. The later was created in 1809 by the French General Miollis, then governor of Rome, to create an easy access point for visitors to the Grotta di Nettuno. The tunnel/gallery features windows carved out of the stone. Very civilized. For our visit we purchased the audioguide and were very happy with the information. The audioguide often plays clips of classical music by composers inspired by Villa Gregoriana – great for invoking a mood. 

The villa was a key stop as part of the Grand Tour. Staying in Tivoli center – which is compact – you can easily walk to Villa Gregoriana which is located on the northeast side of Tivoli. Since we were staying in Tivoli (at the Bed & Breakfast Palazzo Maggiore) this was a nice walking day for us. We visited Villa Gregoriana in the morning, ate lunch, and visited Villa D’Este in the afternoon and felt that was a pretty good pace. For places to eat in Tivoli, see the entry on Villa D’Este. 

Villa Gregoriana Brochure 

Temple of Vesta, Up Close and From a Distance

Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa)

Villa Adriana Canopus

We were based in Tivoli (location) for several nights on the start of a one month trip in Italy, November 2010. One of the reasons for choosing Tivoli was the desire to visit Villa Adriana or Hadrian’s Villa in English. If you are staying in Tivoli you should be aware that Villa Adriana (location) is several miles to the west of Tivoli in the plain as you come down the mountain and head for Rome. It’s really not a practical option to walk to Villa Adriana from Tivoli center (which we were hoping for). There are buses that can take your there, but we drove and it took about 10 minutes (Tivoli traffic!). Don’t try and take a backside-short cut from upper to lower Tivoli via a street called “Strada degli Orti” to “Via degli Stablimenti” (which has a tunnel) because that may not work. The tunnel was closed when were were there. Following the main road “Via Tiburtina” really is the easy and least stressful way to go back and forth to Tivoli. (Though, for those inclined you can sneak in another way, via E80 and exit Castel Madama and come in the east side. It’s slightly longer but can be more relaxing.)

Villa Adriana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In fact on this month long trip we would see many UNESCO sites, a sort of UNESCO-tour of Italy. What does it mean to be an UNESCO World Heritage site? It means that a site – which could be a building, a city, a forest, or in general, a place – has special cultural or physical significance. More specifically, a site must be of outstanding universal value and meet one of ten selection criteria. Villa Adriana meets the first three criteria in that it:

(i) represents a masterpiece of human creative genius;

(ii) exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

(iii) bears a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or has disappeared;

The 200+ acres Villa Adriana was in essence a town that started out as a retreat and later became the imperial court of Hadrian (76 – 138), a celebrated Roman Emperor during the Roman Empire, post-Republican period of Rome. Hadrian’s interest in architecture and wide travel experience (he spent much of his time travelling the empire) influenced many of the design aspects of the villa. The photo most often seen of Villa Adriana is of the pool and artificial grotto named Canopus and Serapeum, respectively. The former was an Egyptian city where a serapeum (temple) was dedicated to the god Serapis. The type of round dome that caps the grotto was reported to be referred to in a derogatory manner as a “pumpkin” by a prominent architect during Hadrian’s time. Said architect was later exiled and killed – or so the story goes. Oh well.

To visit Villa Adriana you should plan on spending 4 to 6 hours. Don’t cheat yourself. Also, purchase the audio guide; it will help you make sense of what you are seeing.

Villa Adriana Brochure




Villa Adriana Pecile


Villa Adriana Large Pool


Teatro Marittimo


Terme Con Heliocaminus


Grand Terme


Canopus Grotto - Serapeum