What to see · Fiumicino

More places of interest

• Area archeologica dei Porti Imperiali di Claudio e Traiano

  Porto, in Latin Portus, was the urban settlement north of Ostia, on the right bank of the Tiber and on the Tyrrhenian coast: it was the port of ancient Rome and corresponds to present-day Fiumicino. The archaeological area keeps the remains of the harbours built by the emperors Claudius and Trajan.

  What to see

  Rome's first port was the river port at the mouth of the Tiber, near Ostia. The emperor Claudius wanted a larger and safer port complex, on a site about 4 kilometres north of Ostia: it covered about 70 hectares, with two long moles on the Tyrrhenian, an artificial island and a lighthouse, to build which the ship that had brought the great obelisk from Egypt, now in Saint Peter's Square, was filled. In an inscription of 46 Claudius states that he had made channels branching from the Tiber to ease the work and free Rome from the danger of flooding; to him too is due the arrangement of the via Portuense, about 24 kilometres long, as the link with Rome. Work began in 42 and took twelve years: it was Nero, in 54, who inaugurated the Portus Augusti. Compared with Ostia it was a sea port and not a river port, so it took ships of deep draught and was sheltered from south-westerly winds; but the basin did not offer complete protection and the lack of an internal current meant early silting, with frequent and costly dredging.

  Tacitus reports that in 62 a storm sank two hundred ships; to overcome the perils and the cost of upkeep Trajan had Apollodorus of Damascus build a new artificial port, more functional and set further back. Work lasted from 100 to 112 and produced a hexagonal basin with sides of 358 metres, 5 metres deep, still visible today and easily identified in satellite photos, served by the Fossa Traianea, today the canal of Fiumicino, with warehouses and depots. Porto became autonomous, with the status of municipium, only under Constantine I, taking the name Civitas Flavia Constantiniana Portuensis; it suffered destruction in 408 at the hands of Alaric and in 455 by the Vandals and recovered, but the invasion of the Goths of Vitiges, in 537, sealed its end and the settlement emptied, to the benefit of the Episcopio di Porto. On the north-western side of the Trajanic basin a large palace, probably imperial property, has been found and, in 2009, a small amphitheatre for about two thousand spectators.

  Visiting

  The archaeological area is at Fiumicino, near the Oasi di Porto, founded in 1993 on the Porto estate. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check with the competent bodies.

  Our editors' tip

  The hexagonal basin is easy to recognise in satellite photos, on the edge of Fiumicino; in the pinewood around it is the area now known as the Oasi di Porto. The first historically documented bishop of Porto is Gregorius, who took part in the council of Arles in 314.

• Bosco Foce dell'Arrone

  The Bosco Foce dell'Arrone is the area of Mediterranean scrub around the mouth of the Arrone, at Fiumicino, which forms part of the Riserva naturale Litorale romano together with the precious wetland at the river mouth.

  What to see

  The Arrone is a river of Lazio about 35 kilometres long: it rises in the south-eastern part of Lake Bracciano, at Anguillara Sabazia, and flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea at Fiumicino, between Maccarese and Fregene. Regarded as the outlet of the lake, it begins its course at the so-called muro dell'Arrone, a small sluice that regulates the flow of water from the lake; the lake's contribution to the river's flow is however slight and in some months of the year, or for whole years, nil. In the upper basin are the springs of the Acqua Claudia.

  The river is cited in a bull of Pope Leo IX of 1053 as the boundary of some agricultural estates. Through excessive human settlement, which over the last century has increased the risk of flooding, it has several times caused disasters by breaking its banks. The sources give the wood only a few lines and describe mainly the river.

  Visiting

  The area is at the mouth of the Arrone, between Maccarese and Fregene, in the Riserva naturale Litorale romano. The sources consulted give no paths, hours or access rules: check with the body that manages the reserve.

  Our editors' tip

  Sulle rive dell'Arrone is the title of a song by Daniele Silvestri, from the album Il latitante, which speaks of the perspective from which, from the river's banks, things can be seen differently.

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