Lucci Hotel Rome Blog

Ostia Antica  is about 25 km southwest of Rome only therefore it makes an ideal day trip outside the city of Rome,

It was a major port and military base during Republican times. Its aim was to protect and defend the coastline and the mouth of the river Tiber.
In the 2nd century despite the development of a new port called Portus (just slightly to the north west), Ostia port continued to flourish under the Empire.
Unfortunately during the 4th century the reduction of trade and also the silting up  of the harbor damaged the town.

 

When malaria  became endemic in the area, the town, which  at its peak had a population of around 100 000 was then completely abandoned.
Ancient Ostia  has been buried for centuries under the sand but is nonetheless very well preserved. It enlightens on the every day life during the Roman Empire and indeed people from  all  social classes and from all over the Mediterranean lived and worked there.
Visitors can easily see the lay out  of Ostia from the main road through the town and you will locate many public and private buildings, bath houses such as the Baths of Neptune and the Baths of the Cisiarii in which you can still see the fine black and white mosaics.
Visitors also see the restored theatre with its three large masks which are part of the stage decoration, and during summertime the Ancient Ostia Theatre hosts musical plays.

Away from the main street is where the Ostia inhabitants lived, most of them stayed in rented apartments in a block of 3 or 4 stories high.

Other buildings must have been absolutely pretty like the house of Diana with its elegant look : It bore a balcony around the second floor, a private bath house  and a central courtyard.
For the wealthy there were detached houses called domus such as the House of Dioscuri which has fine colored mosaics. Other houses are the ones of Cupid and Psyche.
Among houses and shops there were also other buildings like  laundry and firemen’s barracks.
Various religions were practiced in Ancient Ostia. There were no less than 18 temples dedicated to the persian god Mithrus, Jewish synagogue dating from the 1st century and a Christian basilica.
To make the most of your visit why not take a guided Ancient Ostia Tour  with a pick up from your Rome Hotel ?

How to get to Ostia Antica from My Hotel Rome :
Take B line Metro from termini Station and get off at ‘Piramide’.
From there switch to a local train to Ostia .
Excavations and museum are open from 8:00 am till one hour before sunset.

 See here for their timetables.
Telephone number . +39 06 5635 8099

 

 

Read more about Ostia Antica.

Who

Carlo Levi was born in Turin in 1902 , he died in Rome in 1975. His family was quite rich and he had the possibility to follow the studies and received a university degree in Medicine, but his passion has always been painting to which he attributed the value of freedom. He was a diversly talented artist, as his artistic interests sweep between the painting and the writing.

He was a great writer, wrote a good number of books during his life but his masterpiece remains “Christ stopped at Eboli”. Levi is the symbol one of the major exponents of the Italian culture of twentieth-century.

Against the futurism avant-garde and after some years spent in Paris Carlo Levi joined the movement called “The six of Turin” starting doing some exhibitions all around Italy. If at the beginning he started to paint in chair colours then after his Roman stay he began to prefer more realistic paintings.

This is exactly what you can see in the Rome exhibition, which has on display 46 paintings of Levi, paintings in where you will be able to observe the passage from a chair style to the one of a more expressionist with dense brush-stroke. Most of the paintings are portraits, but in the ones where the city of Rome is the subject , appear one secret city distant from the one of “Caput Mundi”.

Where

In Torlonia Villa, one of the Rome’ s best preserved villas.

Villa Torlonia is a huge park scattered with plenty of small monuments. Torlonia’s Villa has also been the residence of Mussolini, during the Second World War and was occupiedby the allied Anglo-american military forces in Rome.

Then in 1975 the Italian government (Rome’s municipality) bought the Villa and from the 1976 it opened to the public.

You can enjoy a beautiful walk after you have admired Carlo Levi’s masterpieces.

When

From 27 of February to 15 of June.

Entrance fee 9 euro.

Where to stay

Certainly in the Hotel of the Artistes of Rome such as Hotel Des Artistes, or the sister Rome Hotel and romantic My Hotel Rome.

Still want to read more ? Then see  here for another Carlo Levi Exhibit Rome read in italian.

Easy to cook typical Roman food.

Rome does not have only monuments, history, squares and statues: the eternal city has a long tradition of regional food.

The roman cuisine is based on simple fresh ingredients and it is not very complicated to achieve a good result even for a beginner. Now try some of these mouthwatering recipes according to the traditional roman way.

Before you begin I would suggest a couple of things :

First of all: it’s important having Italian ingredients.

Second. Relax your mind while you are cooking with some music that is going to help your fantasy.

And you may want to pour yourself a glass of good regional Latium wine  to put yourself in the mood.

Do not forget a cute apron, possibly with the map of Italy and its wines and foods scattered around it.

 

 

Now let’s start with fried “antipasti” (appetizers)

Called “Supplì”

The suppli are oval shaped rice balls. You will need 500 gr of rice, 180 gr of butter, 1 carrot and a branch of celery, 50gr of minced beef, 50gr of pork, mozzarella cut in small squares, flour, oil to fry, crumble bread, one glass of white wine.

In the meantime prepare the tomato sauce . Put some oil and some onion in a pan and when the onion gets some colour add the meat , the carrot and celery which you first cut in your mixer and wash down with the wine, then add the sauce and only a little of salt. Pour the rice and cook for at least 40 minutes on very low gas, mixing and adding water whenever necessary.

Leave to get cold. Now prepare the beaten egg and start to do the rice ball. Put the square of mozzarella in the middle of your rice ball, the size of an egg , pass it into flour and then crumble bread and finally, fry your suppli in scalding oil for a couple minutes and allow it to take a nice golden colour. You will certainly want to sample the supplì in a good restaurant in Rome on your next trip !

 

 

Now let’s go on with the “Primo” (First course)

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

150 gr of smoked bacon(more precisely "guanciale" which you may find in your local italian deli)  cut in small pieces, olive’s oil, one chilli, two cloves of garlic, two onions, tomato sauce, pecorino and parmigiano.

While the bucatini are cooking, brown garlic and chilli. Then take out the garlic and put the onions and when is it turns golden then add the bacon. Let the bacon cook for a couple of minutes wash down the wine and when it is dry off add the tomato’s sauce.

When the pasta is ready put all together and add pecorino and parmigiano. Enjoy !

 

And then here is our suggestion of a “Secondo” to carry on (Second course, you may have guessed…)

Abbacchio al Forno

1kg of lamb, 3kg of potatoes, rosemary, half glass of white wine, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.

Season the lamb with garlic and rosemary, add salt, pepper, swab with oil e put in a roasting pan.

 

 

 

Put in the oven with the wine and then add the potatoes cut in a small pieces.

After 10 minutes put the remaining garlic and rosemary and cook for another 30 minutes.

What wine to accompany ? Being in Rome and Latium, I would suggest a red Frascati DOP (the initials stand for Di Origine Protetta, which translated means it is a very good wine)

And to finish off nicely, a nice dessert !

 

Maritozzi alla Romana (biscuits)

4 eggs, 600gr of flour, 100 gr of dough, 200gr of sultanas, 100 gr sugar, 100 gr of orange rind, 100 gr of pine- kernels and 2 glasses of olive oil.

Knead the dough with 200 gr of flour, two eggs, 1 glass of oil, and a pinch of salt. Let the mixture stand for 8 hours in a warm place. When the 8 hours have elapsed, mix the remaining flour, the egg and oil, sugar, salt, orange rind and sultanas in a little hot water. Shape the biscuits in an oval size or in a round ball and leave them for another 7 hours. Eventually, oil the surface you will use to cook them and you can put them in the oven on a very high temperature (250 °C) for about 7 minutes. Take them out, add sugar on top, they are ready!

What wine to accompany your dessert ? My suggestion is a Frascati cannellino. (Frascati is a small town up in the hills close to Rome and the region is known as Castelli Romani). If you happen to be in Rome, you can taste them  in the best Rome wine bars.

You love italian food and to cook too ? then see here for more italian cooking !

And for your next trip to Rome, we suggest a nice comfortable hotel in central Rome such as My Hotel Rome.