Photos

Ostia is a large neighborhood in the comune of Rome, Italy, on the coast facing the Tyrrhenian Sea. Ostia (called also Ostia Lido or Lido di Roma) is also the only municipio of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea and this is why most of the Romans go there to spend the summer holidays. It is in fact part of Rome comune in the XIII Municipio. Sometimes it is confused with Ostia Antica, an archaeological area, that is nearby. Ostia counts about 90,000 inhabitants.

Ostia was rejuvenated during the fascist era; it was renamed Lido di Ostia, or Ostia Lido, or Lido di Roma, lido means "beach" in Italian. Following the general urbanised re-planning of Rome, a new quartiere was created in the southern side of the capital city called (EUR), and a road dedicated to Christopher Columbus was built to connect it with the seaside. I shall post a specific series of photos on the EUR later.

Ostia became the beach resort of Rome, and was connected by a railway. The town was re-organized in a pure so-called "fascist architecture", which recalls some colonial, Mediterranean and rationalist styles. It was divided into a coastal side which was distributed in small villas used as second houses by Romans and a rear side for workers. Ostia became one of the peripheral quartieri and borgate created all around Rome for the lower classes. Here is one example of this architecture along the beach.

During the Fascist period many of the structures of Ancient Ostia were renovated or in some cases reconstructed including the whole of the exterior of the Theatre, and much of the interior.

However, the fascist renewal was not long lived due to the imminence of World War II which arrived when part of the works were still in progress. It was only in the 1960s that Ostia began to be used as a beach and as a holiday site. Ostia is part of the territory of the comune of Rome.

Italian intellectual, director and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini was assinated in the countryside around Ostia.

a slightly different view to be seen as a ws