Fiumicino

Many know this town only because it is home to the Rome Airport, but in reality Fiumicino holds many archaeological treasures and just as many food and wine riches to enjoy.

Fiumicino’s name is famous all over the world because the intercontinental airport “Leonardo da Vinci” is located in its territory, but this municipality, which is one of the largest in Italy by extension, preserves priceless artistic treasures, as well as real food and wine pearls. In fact, the new Ostia Antica Archaeological Park is located straddling the municipalities of Rome and Fiumicino, divided by the Tiber River, which for centuries united the ancient ports of Rome. If Ostia Antica was the river port, it was in the area on which the airport now stands that Emperors Claudius and Trajan built a seaport equal to the trade of the epicenter of the empire. When this collapsed, under the impetus of the Germanic peoples who slowly succeeded in imposing themselves, the area at the mouth of the Tiber remained strategic both for the control of the coast and for the presence of (at the time fundamental) salt marshes. This is why the area is dotted with medieval watchtowers, two of which are located in the Ostia area: Tor Boacciana, built on the foundations of an ancient Roman lighthouse, and Tor San Michele, which some attribute to the genius of Michelangelo.

But Fiumicino is also, and above all, a favorite place to eat the fish that arrives fresh in the Fiumicino canal, the ancient Fossa Traiana that still teems with boats. The smell of the sea can be smelled in the historic center, and all palates can be satisfied as they range from a plate of fried squid to oysters accompanied by a glass of fine wine.

Not just a place of transit then, but an area to be discovered, with the archaeological sites of the imperial ports, the extraordinary Isola Sacra Necropolis, the elegant QC terme spa, and the other places of culture and entertainment of the Litoral just a stone’s throw away: Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido.